FOREST Lodge Garden Centre’s Christmas display is on-track to raise money for the Ridgeway Community School over the festive period.

Customers at the garden centre are encouraged to throw coins on to a Christmas-themed model railway, which will be donated to the Ridgeway School.

The school, which provides education for pupils with severe learning difficulties, is hoping to raise enough to purchase a Smart Platform mobility aid for its students.

More than 20 of the students require wheelchairs at the school and of these the majority are unable to push their own chairs and cannot move without assistance.

A Smart Platform can convert an ordinary wheelchair into a powered wheelchair with special controls for movement, giving pupils the freedom to explore their environment independently.

The garden centre is continuing to raise money up until Christmas, and all of the proceeds will go towards buying a Smart Platform for the school.

Julie James, the school’s business manager, said: “The Ridgeway School would like to thank Forest Lodge Garden Centre for their support in raising money to purchase a Smart Platform which will be invaluable for our pupils.”