'
The Children's Trust
'' is the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury. The Children's Trust runs a range of specialist care, education and therapy services for children and young people from across the UK, including the UK's largest rehabilitation centre for children with acquired brain injury (ABI) and is based at Tadworth Court,

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2011 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

within the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

. The Children's Trust's celebrity Ambassadors are

David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little B ...

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, mechanic, and writer. He is best known for co-hosting the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and Jame ...

Phil Tufnell Philip Clive Roderick Tufnell (born 29 April 1966) is a former English international cricketer and current television and radio personality. A slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler (cricket), bowler, he played in 42 Test cricket, Test matches and ...

Joely Richardson Joely Kim Richardson (born 9 January 1965) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Julia McNamara in the FX drama series ''Nip/Tuck'' (2003–10) and Katherine Parr in the Showtime series ''The Tudors'' (2010). She has also appeared ...

Adam Hills Adam Christopher Hills (born 10 July 1970) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter. In Australia, he hosted the music quiz show '' Spicks and Specks'' from 2005 to 2011, and again in 2021 onwards, and the talk show ''Adam Hi ...

Jenni Falconer Jenni Falconer (born 12 February 1976) is a Scottish radio and television presenter. She appears on the ITV daytime show '' This Morning'' as a regular travel reporter and was a regular presenter of the National Lottery Draws on BBC One. She w ...

Amanda Burton Irene Amanda Burton is a Northern Irish actress. Her notable credits include Heather Haversham in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Brookside'' (1982–1986), Beth Glover in the ITV drama series ''Peak Practice'' (1993–1995), Sam Ryan in the BBC c ...

Elaine Paige Elaine Jill Paige (née Bickerstaff; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professiona ...

Holly Valance Holly Rachel Candy (; born 11 May 1983), known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian actress and singer. Valance began her acting career on the Australian soap opera ''Neighbours'', as Felicity Scully (1999–2002, 2005, 2022). Sh ...

Sophia Warner Sophia Warner (born 23 May 1974) is a Paralympian track and field athlete from England competing mainly in T35 sprint events. In 2012, she qualified for the 2012 Summer Paralympics, selected for the T35 100m and 200m sprint and is also part of the ...

, Nicholas Owen and

Jacqueline Gold Jacqueline Summers Gold (born 16 July 1960) is a British businesswoman who is Chief Executive of Gold Group International, Ann Summers and Knickerbox. Gold is estimated to be the 16th richest woman in Great Britain. Gold is worth £470 milli ...

. In 2012 The Children's Trust launched an online support centre for families of children affected by acquired brain injury
The Brain Injury Hub
This website offers a wealth of practical advice and information about a condition that's often misunderstood. There is also an online forum giving families the opportunity to share their stories and experiences. In May 2022 a coroner criticised The Children's Trust over the death of a five-year-old while under its care. An inquest concluded Connor Wellsted died in 2017 following "entrapment by a loose cot bumper" at the Children's Trust facility in Tadworth, Surrey. Coroner Dr Karen Henderson also criticised the trust for what she said was a "lack of transparency" over the death.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-surrey-61494777 The Children's Trust is a UK registered charity, number 288018.

Services

The Children's Trust's services include: * Residential rehabilitation for children with an

acquired brain injury Acquired brain injury (ABI) is brain damage caused by events after birth, rather than as part of a genetic or congenital disorder such as fetal alcohol syndrome, perinatal illness or perinatal hypoxia. ABI can result in cognitive, physical, ...

* Therapy-led support in the community for children with an acquired brain injury *

Special education Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

for pupils with profound and multiple learning difficulties, or PMLD, at The Children's Trust School, Tadworth * Residential short breaks * Transitional care for children who are technology dependent (e.g. require long-term ventilation or have a tracheostomy) *

Palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

* The Brain Injury Hub (www.braininjuryhub.co.uk) - an information website and discussion forum for parents of children with acquired brain injury as well as teachers and health professionals.

Awards

Recent awards won by The Children's Trust: * Quality Improvement Award (Top Hospitals 2019) * Institute of Fundraising Best use of data and insight in a small to medium charity (Insight in Fundraising Awards 2019) * Highly Commended, 2019 BMA Patient Information Awards for Brain Injury Community Service animation and leaflet. * Highly Commended, 2019 BMA Patient Information Awards, Concussion in children and young people booklet * Winner 2018 BMA Patient Information Awards User Engagement Award * Charity Shop of the Year (Charity Retail Awards)

History

From 1927 until 1983, Tadworth Court was the country branch of

Great Ormond Street Hospital Great Ormond Street Hospital (informally GOSH or Great Ormond Street, formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) is a children's hospital located in the Bloomsbury area of the London Borough of Camden, and a part of Great Ormond Street Hospital ...

. In 1984, the

Department of Health A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

transferred management control to the newly created charity, The Children's Trust. Tadworth Court was the

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

of the manor of

which lay within the parish of

Banstead Banstead is a town in the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. It is south of Sutton, south-west of Croydon, south-east of Kingston-upon-Thames, and south of Central London. On the North Downs, it is on three of the four main ...

, by

Banstead Downs Banstead Downs is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Banstead in Surrey. There are Saxon burial mounds on the site and they are a Scheduled Monument Today, with wooded areas and wide open fields, Banstead Downs are predominantly ...

, a horse-racing racecourse in the 17th century. Banstead was well known as an airing place at this period, where Londoners sought fresh air, being 600 feet above sea level. The attractions of Epsom Spa to the west prompted the first settlements other than isolated farmhouses on this part of the widest section of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills and ...

stretching from Banstead village to

Walton-on-the-Hill Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, is a village in England midway between the market towns of Reigate and Epsom. The village is a dispersed cluster on the North Downs centred less than one mile inside of the M25 motorway. The village hosts the Walto ...

to the south. Tadworth Court on the south of the site is a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

for architecture in the highest category as a country house of circa 1700, with "rustic

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s, stone dressings (renderings)..steep (and richly decorated)

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

....high panelling and rococo plasterwork...Boxed room with early C10 panelling,".

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

described it as a ’splendid house’ and ’one of the most elegant in the whole country’. He was amazed that such a house so close to London was virtually unknown — no pictures of the house are known before the 20th century. The owners of the house: The first owner, Leonard Wessel, a merchant, purchased the estate in 1694. He was Sheriff of the County in 1700 and a Member of Parliament in 1701. Whilst of a Dutch family, his great grandfather was born in England in 1557. Recent work to the house revealed that it does not incorporate an earlier building, but in common with all buildings of this period contains some reused beams due to the growing shortage of timber. 1694 is the likely construction date of the house and by 1698 the Banstead Court Rolls record that Wessel applied for leave ’to plant rows of trees on the Heath, fronting his dwelling house and leading towards the Warren.’ One of these, a large poplar, survived until the 19th century. Wessel died in 1708. The house appears on contemporary maps, and

Celia Fiennes Celia Fiennes (7 June 1662 – 10 April 1741) was an English traveller and writer. She explored England on horseback at a time when travel for its own sake was unusual, especially for women. Early life Born at Newton Tony, Wiltshire,"June 7th ...

in 1712 describes it as one of ’several good houses in or about Epsham’, though by then in the possession of Sir

Thomas Scawen Sir Thomas Scawen (c. 1650 – 22 September 1730) was a British merchant, financier and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1708 and 1722. He was Governor of the Bank of England from 1721 to 1723. Early life Scawen was a youn ...

, Alderman of London, his brother-in-law.

References

External links

Official websiteThe Brain Injury HubJosh's Story (as seen on BBC's Children in Need)BBC TV news story about a girl who has received residential rehabilitation at The Children's Trust following a stroke aged sixArticle from The Guardian newspaper about the highly specialised education offered by St Margaret's School at The Children's TrustArticle from The Sunday Times Magazine about The Children's Trust's services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Children's Trust, Tadworth Charities for disabled people based in the United Kingdom Children's charities based in the United Kingdom Grade I listed buildings in Surrey