Inspirational nine-year old’s fundraising tops £20,000 for Sheffield school

Lennie Street has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus and isn’t able to stand or walk independently.

He goes to Paces School in Sheffield a leading centre for conductive education which supports the development of life-changing skills - such as sitting, standing, walking, speaking, communication and self-care.

The school launched a fundraising campaign in January last year to allow them to move to a new base with state-of-the-art facilities to support more children.

When the pandemic struck, pupils such as Lennie and his fellow pupils Tobias Weller and Jack Mitchell, chose to challenge themselves and raise money.

He has learnt and played dozens of songs in return for donations to Paces, initially setting himself a target of £750 and has now raised 26-times that amount.

He has received high profile support from the likes of Gary Barlow, Marcus Rashford, Peter Andre, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Nigella Lawson, Martin Kemp, Jo Whiley and Johnny Vegas.

Lennie, from Morley near Leeds, said: “Hooray! Thank you to everyone who has donated and helped me reach £20,000. I love playing the piano and going to Paces so I’m over the moon to have been able to support my school by learning and performing songs.”

Lennie’s mum Sally said: “Nearly 700 people have donated to support Paces’ campaign for a new home for their amazing school and I can’t thank them enough for their kindness and generosity. Lennie is always an absolute superstar and the way he’s used the past year to learn the piano and raise money makes me so proud.”

Julie Booth, head of fundraising at Paces, said: “£20,000 is an incredible amount of money and will make a huge difference to our campaign to enable Paces School to move to a new home. We need to make sure the amazing children who come to us to learn have the facilities they deserve, and Lennie’s efforts will take that vision one step closer to becoming reality. Thank you Lennie, you are an amazing young man.”

You can still listen to Lennie’s Tunes on his Facebook page at www.bit.ly/ListenToLennie and donate at his JustGiving page at www.pacessheffield.org.uk/lennie