Parallel Windsor 2025: A Tremendous Success for Chattertot

On 5th July, three brave young people from our Chattertots community took part in Parallel Windsor, and we couldn't be more proud of their achievements. Josh McIntosh, Aryan Nandha, and Jake Willmott showed remarkable determination and spirit as they completed their races in this inspiring event, which runs alongside the famous Windsor Half Marathon and provides an opportunity for people with learning disabilities to participate in their own running event through the beautiful streets of Windsor.

Our Amazing Participants

Josh, Aryan, and Jake demonstrated the courage and resilience that we see every day in our speech and language therapy sessions across Berkshire. Their participation highlights how children with Down Syndrome can achieve wonderful things when given the right support and encouragement.

Watching them cross the finish line was a truly moving experience for all the families present. These children, who attend our weekly sessions in locations across Windsor, Reading and Wokingham, proved once again that with early intervention and family support, children with Down Syndrome can participate fully in community life.

Remarkable Fundraising Success

The generosity of our Berkshire community has been overwhelming. Through the efforts of Aryan's, Josh's, and Jake's families and their supporters across Windsor, Slough, Reading, Bracknell and Wokingham, we raised £1,158 in donations. Thanks to the Gift Aid contributions from our supporters, we were able to claim an additional £149.50, bringing our total to £1,307.50.

This funding will make a real difference to children with Down Syndrome across our region. It will help us continue providing specialist speech and language therapy to families who might otherwise face long NHS waiting lists. For many children in Berkshire, our weekly sessions represent their only access to the early intervention support that can transform their communication abilities.

The Impact of Your Support

Every pound raised through Parallel Windsor will go directly towards supporting local children. This funding helps us maintain our pre-school speech and language therapy programme, where children like Barney - one of our members - has mastered 31 of 42 Jolly Phonics speech sounds and learned over 50 Makaton signs in just 18 months.

The money raised will also support our expansion into primary school-aged therapy sessions, recognising that children need continued specialist support as they transition into mainstream education across Windsor, Reading and other Berkshire schools.

A Community Coming Together

What made this event particularly special was seeing how the Windsor community rallied around Josh, Aryan, Jake and their families. From supporters cheering along the route to those who sponsored our participants online, people across Berkshire demonstrated their commitment to ensuring children with Down Syndrome have every opportunity to thrive.

The event perfectly embodies our mission of giving children with Down Syndrome a voice. Josh, Aryan, and Jake didn't just participate in a race - they showed the wider community what's possible when young people with Down Syndrome receive the right support from an early age.

Looking Ahead

The success of Josh's, Aryan's, and Jake's participation reinforces our belief that children with Down Syndrome can achieve remarkable things when given appropriate early intervention. We know that with continued specialist speech and language therapy, these three young people will go on to access mainstream education successfully and develop the communication skills they need for independent living.

We're already looking forward to next year's event and hope to see even more of our Chattertots children taking part. If you're interested in supporting future fundraising activities or learning more about our services across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, please get in touch.

Thank You

To everyone who supported Josh, Aryan, and Jake - whether through sponsorship, encouragement on the day, or sharing our fundraising efforts across social media - thank you. Your support makes it possible for us to continue providing vital early intervention services to families across Windsor, Reading, Wokingham, Bracknell and beyond.

Most importantly, congratulations to Josh, Aryan, and Jake. You've shown that with determination, family support and the right early intervention, children with Down Syndrome can achieve anything they set their minds to.

Chattertots supports children with Down Syndrome and their families across Berkshire and Buckinghamshire through specialist speech and language therapy and educational support.

To learn more about our services or to get involved, visit www.chattertots.org or contact us at clare.chattertots@outlook.com