A KELTY charity has been boosted by a £2,621 donation from Lloyds Banking Group workers.

A team of fundraisers based at the Gyle ran various fundraising events over the past 12 months and chose Gordon’s Cottage Child Development Centre on Cocklaw Street to benefit.

Leanne Flynn, just one member of the 12-person team who climbed Munros, ran the Scottish 10K and hosted various quizzes for the charity, told the Times: “My colleague, Gavin; his daughter has attended there for a couple of years and he said they’ve been absolutely brilliant with her.

“We choose a different charity every year, last year we did Marie Curie, which was my choice, but this year we got Gavin to pick and he chose them because of his daughter.”

Gavin Wilson, from Rosyth, decided that, after all the amazing work they had done for his daughter, Isla, Gordon’s Cottage deserved some extra help.

He said: “Isla was born in January 2020, she was born completely healthy and had no health concerns whatsoever.

"When Isla was five- to six-weeks-old, we started noticing that she was making strange movements, initially put down to colic by a GP, which caused some concern.

"We then contracted the hospital on 111 and spent the next seven nights in the Victoria Hospital and the Sick Kids.

“After our week in hospital, all the tests didn’t give us any answers but there was a final test that they could do. This was a genetic test, however, it would take six to eight weeks to get the results – it took closer to 12.

“Fast forward to June 2020, we were called into Sick Kids and informed by the consultant that Isla had been diagnosed with a rare genetic mutation known as CDKL5 and was advised that, as this is so rare, they don’t really know anything about it.

"However, she shouldn’t live a normal life and the best way for Isla to get the best possible life was early intervention from a development centre.”

CDKL5 disorder is very rare, it’s a neurodevelopmental condition that can have a variety of symptoms including early-onset epilepsy, impaired gross and fine motor skills, such as walking and holding things, and impaired language and communication skills.

He continued: “This is where Gordon’s Cottage comes in – Gordon’s Cottage is a NHS-run child development centre.

"NHS pay for the building and staff wages, however, the rest of the budget comes from charitable donations. They help children with a large spectrum of disabilities and put on buses for parents and staff that have no access to transport, they have weekly physio sessions with all kids.

“Even throughout COVID, we would have weekly visits to our house from specialist nurses and physios. They are also a middle man – they use contacts to fight our corner when things aren’t going smoothly and we feel like hitting our heads off a brick wall. Isla still attends Gordon’s Cottage every Tuesday.

“Gordon’s Cottage has honestly been a God send to Isla and our family and offers so much support to get us to where we are now.”

The centre was extremely grateful for the donation and planned to use it to buy Christmas gifts for the kids.

Leanne continued: “They were so appreciative when we went over. Although the NHS pay for the building, they have to supply their own equipment, toys and gifts so the money we donated, they used to buy all the children Christmas presents and the rest will go towards funding whatever equipment they need.”

The group raised half the total and Lloyds Banking Group matched it.

She added: “We, as a team, are very proud of our efforts with the fundraising. Since hearing about what the donation will mean to Gordon Cottage, we are over the moon that it will benefit them so much and it will also help families that are struggling this year.”