The charity Lifelites has spread its magic to Brian House, providing us with state of the art computer equipment for the fourth time.

Lifelites is a charity which provides assistive technology packages for life limited and disabled children in every children’s hospice across the British Isles.

At the Lifelites’ training day in Brian House, the care team were amazed by the cutting edge equipment that will enable our young people to play, to be creative, control something for themselves and communicate, all thanks to computer wizardry.

The technology includes a number of magical items such as Touchscreen PCs, assistive mice and games, a camera and printer, Lifelites specialist iPads, Eyegaze and Beamz – an exciting music system that allows anybody, regardless of their ability, to experience the joy of creating music. The system has a unit with four laser beams; when a user breaks the beam with their hand (or foot, or head or any part of their body!) they can make musical sounds or join in with a pre-written backing track. The software also allows users to record their musical creations.

Sister Carol Wylde said: “Lifelites has been so supportive of Brian House over the years and this new generation of equipment will make a big difference to our children and young people. Being able to express themselves using this technology will give them a real sense of achievement – and a lot of fun. The Lifelites trainers were with us for two days and ensured that our staff and volunteers are well equipped to get the most out of this generous gift in the months and years to come. On behalf of everyone here at Brian House, a very big thank you.”

Simone Enefer-Doy, Chief Executive of Lifelites, said: “We’re so pleased to turn our technological expertise to providing these children with new opportunities. The Lifelites package will be used for play, but it will also help them to communicate and join in with the world around them.  The hospices do not pay anything towards their Lifelites project and all of our work is funded by donations: the equipment, ongoing technical support and training at each hospice costs Lifelites around £50,000 over four years.”

Support for the package at Brian House came from Revere Charitable Trust, Zochonis Charitable Trust, Ross Warburton Charitable Trust, Microsoft, Springfields Employees’ Medical Research & Charity Trust Fund, Khoo Teck UK Foundation and GamesAid.