The Service Delivery Committee was first created in 2018 to seek help and advice from those who know best – people with lived experience of disability, whether as parents, carers or professionals.
After a short pause, the committee returned in 2025 with renewed energy and focus. This time, 19 incredible volunteers joined to support the design and layout of rooms and services within the permanent Gympanzees centre. We are so excited to have their insight. Their feedback has already inspired important changes that will help us make Gympanzees truly inclusive and fully accessible.
Recently, we had the pleasure of chatting with Emily and Anna, who both bring a wealth of personal and professional experience to the committee.
Emily is a speech and language therapist and mum of two, one of whom is autistic. Anna is part of the Gympanzees Pop Up team, where she helped to ensure every visitor had the best possible experience. She has years of experience teaching in a specialist school and brings the valuable perspective of the deaf community as a deaf professional herself.
Why you joined the Service Delivery committee?
Emily: “I have attended the Pop Ups with both my children and I am really excited about this becoming a permanent option for families like ours. I have one disabled child and one non-disabled child and finding places we can all enjoy together is rare. Being part of something that builds that inclusion feels amazing.
I am also a speech and language therapist, so I thought I might have something useful to add. I work with lots of families who feel isolated and do not always know what is available to them. Being able to share Gympanzees with them is really special.”
Anna: “Working at the Pop Ups and seeing the impact they have on different families made me want to be part of the centre from the ground up. Helping with the design and making sure we are inclusive for all disabilities is so important. I want to make sure every child and young person can fit in and feel part of it.”
What has been challenging?
Emily: “The only hard part is juggling it with family life. Finding the time to attend meetings as a parent of two children, one of whom is disabled, can be tricky. But the actual work, sharing ideas and helping improve things, that has been a joy.”
Anna: “The challenge is finding the time, but it is worth it. We all volunteer our time because we believe in this project.”
What excites you the most about permanent Gympanzees?
Emily: “I am so excited about birthday parties. My eldest is nine now and I have never been able to host a full-class birthday party somewhere accessible for everyone. I have found a venue that works for now, but it will not when he turns ten, and that is when the Gympanzees Centre will be open. It is those moments that matter.”
Anna: “For me, it is seeing it all come to life, watching families who used our Pop Ups walk through the doors for the first time. That first visit will be so emotional.”
Emily: “It is a real privilege to be involved. You get to be part of something genuinely exciting and ambitious, something desperately needed. And it is not just for Bristol. We are starting here, but we will build centres all over the UK.”
Anna: “It feels like the beginning of something incredible, not the end. We are laying the foundations for something that will keep growing. This is just the start.”
Lucy Spielberg, Service Delivery Lead:
“We have been so lucky to have so many people volunteer their time to join this committee. The voices of children and young people, represented by parents, and the voices of professionals who work closely with them, are at the heart of everything we do.
We might be the ones planning, but it is the families who know what is needed. We are creating this together. It is not us and them, it is one big family building something amazing for our community.”
We are so grateful to every one of our Service Delivery Committee members for their time, insight and passion. And a huge thank you to Emily and Anna for sharing their experiences and helping shape the future of Gympanzees.
