Our Story

About

LadyBugs Trust

We are a small family trust and given the day to day demands of caring for our daughter we have found very little time to be able to do very much in applying ourselves to the work of the Trust.

However, we still believe passionately in our by line ‘LIFE’S TOO SHORT NOT TO’ and ‘DISABILITIES DON’T NEED TO HAVE BOUNDARIES’.

With this in mind for the last decade and more we have spent many weekends preparing for and taking part in 10K’s, ½ Marathons, Full Marathons, duathlons, triathlons, sportive rides and some extreme events including many Virtual races due to the conditions imposed by Covid.

History

Diane and Stephan

In November 2010 Diane and Stephen became parents to Chloe and then the fun began. We had often heard the statement ‘Disabled child = disabled family’ and we were determined not to let this become true of Chloe or ourselves.

We quickly learned that wheelchairs are extremely limited in the places they will comfortably go. Stephen looked into and eventually purchased the largest child carrier he could find that Chloe would fit into. The day after we bought the carrier we took a trip to Derbyshire and Stephen and Chloe climbed Thorpe in what seemed an incredibly short time. The idea was born that we could climb something a little more adventurous and then the idea grew into the climb becoming a fund raising event.

The target was set and the expedition planned for September 2011. After lots of training so that Chloe got used to being in the carrier we successfully completed our quest, raised the money and purchased the trampolene for the school. On this occasion the quest was to climb Snowdon with Chloe in the carrier. Our first attempt unfortunately was eventually rained out, we had never seen so much rain as that day! A fortnight later we returned and had another attempt, the weather at ground level was perfect unfortunately it again closed in at the top as the pictures testify to but although rather wet we managed to complete the climb (Diane, Chloe’s mum went up on the train) have some lunch before returning to base. This certainly showed us, had we been in any doubt that Chloe is up for just about any challenge and does it with incredible good humour.

Later on we raised funds to enable a small group of older pupils from the school to have a weekend away in Snowdonia.

We have come to realise that many people are interested in what we are doing and have been kind enough to support us. With this in mind we decided that we needed to formalise our fund raising activities, form a trust and try to make it easier for people to donate to the Trust and also to be able to acknowledge those people who have sponsored us with various items of equipment.

To launch our Ladybugs Trust we gave ourselves the challenge of climbing four buildings in London, St Pauls Cathedral, The Monument, Tower Bridge and The Heron Tower which we did on the 29th August 2012 (the day the London Paralympics opened).

Our daughter as you can see from our photo diary is extremely severely disabled and requires everything doing for her. This does not stop her enjoying the races we take part in and being out of doors. Usually, all the way around a racecourse she is telling all the other participants ‘Well done’ and urging her Dad to keep going and if possible, even faster.

What we are aiming for

Given the restrictions of Chloe’s disabilities we have still taken part in many mainstream events and races, not just locally but nationally and internationally. We have shown that with the correct kit, sensible precautions and a ‘can do’ attitude it is possible for mainstream races to be open to assisted runners. Many of these races have been open to those who can propel their own chairs but never to those who needed to be pushed. We lead by example and are always willing to take on new challenges. As well as opening doors in the racing world, we recently were the first ever wheelchair team to abseil the Forth Rail Bridge and are looking at other venues and possibilities.

Our Vision

Our vision continues to raise awareness and to help others who are severely disabled or who have a family member or friend who look after someone with severe disabilities to access the world in ways that were not necessarily possible before.

At one time ‘assisted runners’ were banned from some of the major races that others are able to enjoy, now many of them open their races to those runners. Some still restrict the numbers who can take part, others still insist that such runners should ‘start at the back’ not realising that it is much easier for other participants to see a wheelchair running team and avoid them than it is for the running team to have to overtake them.

There is still a long way to go even though great strides have been made. We will continue to work with race organisers and other organisers of events to show just how it is possible to help the severely disabled be part of and enjoy the world in every way possible.