{"id":653765,"date":"2025-12-25T08:45:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T08:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/653765\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T08:45:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T08:45:39","slug":"the-special-christmas-party-where-manchesters-children-realise-something-about-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/653765\/","title":{"rendered":"The special Christmas party where Manchester’s children realise something about themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an unassuming corner of Wythenshawe, a meeting room is transformed into a unique Christmas party one day of the year – and the children here often come away with something much bigger than a nice gift. Ethan Davies reports.(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Aurora is three-years-old and she\u2019s just realised something about herself. She\u2019s at a Christmas<\/a> party surrounded by toddlers just like her. There are roughly 30 parents, 20 children, and 10 staff are watching on as laughter, festive songs, and squeals of excitement fill the air.<\/p>\n

Santa Claus has just walked in, but Aurora\u2019s not realised she\u2019s about to get a gift. She’s realised something much more fundamental.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the play kitchen, Teddy \u2018the Tornado\u2019 Scott, six months her junior, is in the midst of tearing through the Christmas bash, playing with tractors and reading books, similar to Elijah, age four. Micah, a little older at six, contented himself with the magnetic darts.<\/p>\n

The games were specially selected because this is a special party. It\u2019s the Christmas party where children finally get to know who they are.<\/p>\n

Micah already knew, as did Elijah. Aurora learned today, and Teddy won\u2019t be far behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is the first time she has noticed it on another child,\u201d Aurora\u2019s mum, Ella Newton<\/a>, explained on December 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has asked why she only has one hand, but she\u2019s not been bothered [before]. Today she\u2019s realised that other people have the same thing. It’s nice to meet them.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Like most children here, Aurora has \u2018limb difference\u2019. Some party guests are missing fingers, others may only have one hand, or something different about their feet.<\/p>\n

All were born with their conditions, and are now seen at the Specialised Ability Centre (SAC) in Wythenshawe<\/a>, home to Manchester University NHS<\/a> foundation trust\u2019s \u2018cradle-to-grave\u2019 prosthetics service.<\/p>\n

Ella, watching Aurora and her dad Tom Challenor get stuck into the kitchen, added: \u201cShe has adapted really well. She is not fazed by it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aurora was only two months old when she first came here, but her parents came before her birth. Congenital limb difference can be spotted on a 20-week pregnancy scan, so most parents begin talking to NHS staff about how their child can adapt before they arrive.<\/p>\n

Once doctors meet the baby, the child will receive custom-made prosthetic limbs for life. There\u2019s also counselling for parents, coming to terms with the fact their children\u2019s lives will probably look different to how they imagined.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Kerry Scott, 34, called that service \u2018wonderful\u2019: \u201cA lot of people, when we were telling them about his hand, minimised it. That’s lovely because you do not want to label it but that meant we could not open up about our worries for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband is really into gaming, so he was upset because he thought he would play video games with Teddy. Karen has been amazing at seeing past that. They have been a lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerry, from Eccles<\/a>, is Teddy\u2019s mum. At the moment, he shows no signs of being anything other than a \u2018fearless\u2019 toddler and loving big brother to three-month-old Alfie, whom he kissed. Although he doesn\u2019t use a prosthetic now, he has options.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Charity] Limbo introduced us to open bionics,\u201d Kerry added. \u201cThat\u2019s an option for Teddy, a bionic hand, if he wants to do that. I\u2019m quite excited about that because if he wants to do it, it would open up so many opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the opposite corner of the room, Elijah is transfixed by Hot Wheels. Unlike Teddy, he has a few prosthetic arms to help overcome his amniotic banding syndrome on his right side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has an arm extension and the bottom of it is hard grip so he can do a handstand,\u201d dad Alex Poole, from Salford<\/a> explained. \u201cHe also has one for swimming that looks like Nemo. The therapist here sorted us with a prosthetic for bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Elijah\u2019s prosthetics means he does gymnastics, goes swimming, and plays rugby, just like his twin sister Esme, just like any other four-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about showing the kids there are others like them,\u201d Alex added. \u201cThe centre here ignites the next stage of development. That means he is not behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orthotist Daniel Wardle, playing with six-year-old son Micah, says the SAC has helped his lad ride his bike to class \u2014 before Micah interrupted his dad to pertinently point out he sometimes scoots to school.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s given Micah so much more, he went on: \u201cOverall for him to come to this is about meeting other kids with disabilities. It\u2019s about having the opportunity to see them in a social setting rather than an appointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the last to leave, Micah has a big smile on his face before going back to school in hulme<\/a>>Cheadle<\/a> Hulme. It\u2019s exactly what Lara Littler, SAC manager, wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no reason these children will be held back,\u201d she reflected while watching the organised chaos of Santa Claus\u2019 visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of parents say they have not met a child with limb difference or their child has not met children with limb difference. So it\u2019s about children being able to meet other children and parents with younger children can speak to older children\u2019s parents, about development stages and getting a network of friends. That\u2019s a really good thing for parents.\u201d<\/p>\n

The party provides some opportunity for hidden therapy, with the specially-selected games of \u2018colouring, throwing, role-playing with the kitchen, playing with cars\u2019 chosen by occupational therapist Macrina Storer. She explained: \u201cWe are trying to get them to use both hands together like any child would.<\/p>\n

(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can do exactly the same thing as any other child just in a different way. Occupational therapy is about getting them to do their activities as easily as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macrina\u2019s been here for a decade, seeing hundreds of children. Dressed as an elf and beaming with glee, you\u2019d think the party is the best part of her working life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is lovely, it brings everyone together, parents get to meet other parents and say children with other limb differences,\u201d she said thoughtfully, \u201cbut the highlight is seeing how well they do later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an unassuming corner of Wythenshawe, a meeting room is transformed into a unique Christmas party one day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,6513,2465,211,16,15,185318,2313],"class_list":{"0":"post-653765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-health-and-fitness","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-nhs","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unmissable","17":"tag-wythenshawe"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115779333783782923","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}