Specialist Joinery Group made a donation of £10,000 to leading local health charity Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke to educate local primary school children about the benefits of leading an active healthy lifestyle through the charities Chester’s Challenge three weeks school’s programme.

Thanks to the funds the charity is also able to launch their stroke post rehabilitation exercise programme (PREP) into the Mid Ulster area, supporting those living with the devastating effects of stroke. Clodagh Dunlop, who had a stroke in 2015, aged 35, commented, “PREP was very important to me after my stroke. Not only did it allow me to continue my physical rehabilitation, it also gave me an opportunity to meet other stroke survivors and mentally and emotionally process what had happened to me. This new PREP programme in Moneymore, is a great addition to the local services that NI Chest Heart and Stroke offer (NICHS).”

Company Founder and Chairman, John O’Hagan, explained, “The health and well-being of our employees is core to our value system here at Specialist Joinery Group. The natural next step is to extend our concern for health and well-being to the community in which our employees live.

We are delighted to be working with Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke to teach the young people of Mid Ulster about making healthy choices which will hopefully mean they have a reduced risk of chest, heart or stroke illness in the future.

It is also very important to us to support those within our community who have become ill. The PREP is a tried and tested programme, and we are pleased to be able to provide this for local stroke survivors.”

Jackie Trainor, Director of Income Generation for Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke added, “We would like to thank Specialist Joinery Group for this amazing donation which will allow us to introduce these programmes in the Mid Ulster area. Over 80% of our work relies on donations from the public and local companies, which is why partners such as Specialist Group are vital to our local work.”