A new sports group, set up by Honiton mum Lea Bamford, aims to fill the void when it comes to creating group activities for children who require additional needs.

Having experienced first-hand the difficulties posed to parents – who have children that may struggle in certain environments – she saw the need to create a group that specifically caters for a variety of needs.

The group held a promotional event today, at Honiton Community College Sports Hall, to create awareness around the initiative and to help fundraise for upcoming sessions.

The first SEN sports session will run on Friday 13, September from 4.45 to 5.45pm. They will be held in the Sports Hall at Honiton Community College and cost £2.75 per child, plus £1.50 for additional siblings.

They each receive a fruit snack at the end of the session, to ensure that blood sugar levels are regulated before they head home.

Honiton Nub News attended the launch and caught up with Lea Bamford.

She explained: "I'm former practitioner on a one-to-one basis for SEN children. I run a Facebook page to support parents with children with additional needs and being a mum of children with autism as well, I found it really difficult to find an inclusive group that they could socialise and join in with hobbies and activities.

"Running the group, I found that a lot other parents felt the same way, so I thought that we needed to bridge that gap and create an inclusive sports group for children with additional needs that can't access other groups because of sensory reasons or disabilities.

"Today is just a promotion day to get some more funds for the charity and to let the community know that we will be up and running soon.

"We have been overwhelmed by the reception we have received – all the spaces have been filled and we even have three on a waiting list.

When asked about what motivated her to start the group, Lea said: "It was about eight months ago. Basically, I had joined so many groups with my son and spent a fortune on all these memberships and he would go once and couldn't handle it and wouldn't return again.

"I thought, well this isn't working out for us and when I spoke to other families and found that they felt exactly the same way, I discovered that there was a real demand for it. I decided that things had to change and that's when I decided to start this SEN sports group.

"I'm very fortunate to have the training and to have had the children I have, because I can really identify with the people struggling."