New Year’s honours list ‘Captain’ Tobias Weller ‘a legend’, says Paces, Sheffield charity he helped

And the city based charity for families affected by cerebral palsy, Paces, today paid tribute to ’Captain’ Tobias Weller, named in the New Year’s honours list this week

The 10-year-old is honoured ‘for services to charitable fundraising during Covid-19.’

Tobias, who has cerebral palsy and autism, was nicknamed “Captain” for following in the footsteps of his hero and fellow fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore, raising over £150,000 for charities during the pandemic through a series of challenges for Paces, where he is a pupil, and Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity.

Julie Booth, head of fundraising at Paces, said: “Captain Tobias is a legend, he has achieved a huge amount for someone so young and it is fitting those efforts have been recognised by Her Majesty in today’s New Year Honours.

“The money he has raised for Paces is already making a big difference to the help we are able to provide for the children and adults we support.

"He and his classmates at Paces School are inspirational, they work incredibly hard every day to achieve their potential and we are proud of them all for showing that we must always focus on ability not disability.”

Tobias’s fundraising has paid for an exercise and physical activity therapist at the Ryegate Centre at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and contributed to a planned new Paces building. He said he felt absolutely amazing to be honoured by the Queen, having found out about his honour on Christmas Day.

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He has completed two marathons, one using his walker and one using a race runner, and spent over a year on a gruelling triathlon made up of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile tricycle ride and a 26-mile marathon.

Tobias is already planning his next fundraising adventure, where he hopes to encourage thousands of children across the city to complete a kilometre in any challenging way they can.

Paces, set up in the 1990s by parents, is a specialist centre for children with Cerebral Palsy and other motor disorders, teaching through ‘conductive education – where pupils with neurological and mobility impairment learn to specifically and consciously perform actions children without such impairment learn through normal life experiences. It focuses on personal goals and aspirations.