THIS WEEK IN 1971: News Chipper club aids day unit work

Two years of work by children was rewarded when a cheque for more than £400 was handed over to the Cerebral Palsy Day Unit at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham.

Moira Abbott, a teacher in charge of the unit where many disabled children attend a special school, and seven-year-old Richard Chappell, a pupil, were presented with the cheque from The News Chipper Club’s Possum Fund by Uncle Mike at a ceremony in The News Centre, Hilsea.

The money was used to buy a POSM (Patient Operated Selector Mechanism), an electronic typewriter which enabled severely disabled children to communicate with their teacher with greater ease.

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Any muscular movement – even including a simple blowing motion – could operate it.

Mrs Abbott said: ‘We already have one Possum, but the children have to queue up for it and two of them are able to use the machine all day on their own.’

The biggest proportion of the money was raised by Chipper Club members through garden fetes, jumble sales, and other money-raising efforts which they organised themselves.