The Ten Percent Group donates £500 to the PACE Charitable Trust – £500 donation from The Ten Percent Foundation
Nominated by Lekh Birdy, a solicitor based in Essex, the Ten Percent Foundation have recently donated £500 to the PACE Charitable Trust. Krishna Birdy, who is one of the trustees, said: “Thank you for your very kind and generous donation. This will certainly provide more opportunities to support those marginalised to experience and actively participate in physical activity programmes, particularly boccia, have opportunities to socialise and make new friends, whilst developing their communication skills and physical function.”
Further Information about PACE
PACE is a registered charity, founded in June 2004 by a mother of a severely disabled daughter with cerebral palsy. Consultations were held with families of disabled children which highlighted a need for a fun environment where their children, friends and siblings could all meet and participate in accessible activities together. This led to the development of PACE which offers opportunities for people of all ability levels to actively participate in sport and physical activity programmes at a level of their choice. PACE quickly mushroomed into a club offering a wide range of sports (cricket, table-top games such a polybat, sitting volleyball, basketball, slalom, boccia to name but a few) adapted to ensure active participation. Its main beneficiaries are people with severe and complex health conditions, communication difficulties, physical and learning impairments. It also offers bespoke physical activity programmes in the community to schools and colleges, day centres for adults with complex health conditions and other disability organisations. PACE was awarded The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in 2021. The key sport PACE delivers is Boccia, a paralympic sport and the only one for people with a neurological condition from grassroots to international level.
The club has grown organically, our members (participants and volunteers) all have opportunities to progress within the club and become Team Leaders and community coaches. For example, one member, who has cerebral palsy, began at the club when he was 14 years old (in about 2006). At age 19, he began volunteering with PACE, then after taking some accredited qualifications, through PACE, he gained his Level 1 in Coaching Boccia. He began assisting our Head Coach (another volunteer who has been with the club since it began in 2004), and after gaining experience he gained his Level 2 and became a fully qualified coach. He now coaches in the community, at day centre and even at his old school. He is a great role model for the pupils and an inspiration. One of our athletes, who has been under his guidance has just received a World Ranking, Number 15! and he is on the journey to the Paralympics.
PACE has also supported the parents/carers of disabled loved ones, giving them an opportunity for some ‘me’ time, providing an environment for them to meet socially, exchange information and find out about services in the community they may not know about. PACE has about 20 volunteers and employs two part-timers to oversee the delivery and coaching programmes of our sessions, coordinate and train volunteers in delivery of adapted sports and provide intense coaching programmes for those boccia athletes who wish to compete at national level. The PACE volunteers have also benefitted from the experiences and training they have received through the organisation and many of our volunteers have progressed to become doctors, therapists, teachers and sports coaches. PACE has three trustees. It became a registered charity in 2008 and is in the process of becoming a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).
PACE hopes to continue its work in the community and to provide opportunities for disabled people to improve their quality of life, and continue to find exit routes to enhance their mental and physical health and develop their communication and social skills.
For further information about PACE, please visit
