Gympanzees has been awarded just shy of £1 million from The National Lottery Community Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. This brings the total raised to £7.6 million and putting the centre within touching distance of opening later this year.
For disabled children and young people, spaces that truly work for them are rare, not because they don’t want to take part, but because most environments weren’t designed with them in mind in the first place.
Gympanzees is changing that.
The new centre, based at the Old Aust Services site near Bristol, is being built from the ground up so disabled children, young people and their families don’t have to adapt themselves to take part. It will include 10 fully inclusive activity rooms, hoists throughout, and spaces designed to support a wide range of sensory and physical needs.
But what matters most isn’t what’s in the building. It’s what happens inside it.
At Gympanzees Pop Ups, families have already seen what’s possible when the environment works. Children trying things for the first time. Families staying longer in spaces that feel right for them. Friendships being made.
This funding means those moments won’t be occasional. They can become part of everyday life.
Stephanie Wheen, CEO and founder of Gympanzees, said:
We’re incredibly grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund and to National Lottery players for making this possible. This funding brings us a huge step closer to opening the Gympanzees centre and creating a space that families have been telling us they need for years.
At our Pop Up sessions, we’ve seen children try things for the first time and families able to spend time together in ways that just aren’t possible elsewhere. This centre means those moments won’t be occasional, they’ll be part of everyday life.
This is the second time Gympanzees has been supported by The National Lottery Community Fund. A previous award of £500,000 funded the charity’s Lending Library, which enables families, schools and organisations to borrow specialist sensory, play and exercise equipment.
In 2025 alone, the Lending Library supported 961 equipment loans, totalling 3,602 days of use, the equivalent of almost ten years of play.
As part of a wider range of funding streams, Gympanzees has launched its £1 million Supporter Sprint, this is your way to support us in getting the doors open.
This is the moment where it either stops at nearly, or becomes a permanent centre families can walk into.
Get involved in the Supporter Sprint to make this happen.
About The National Lottery Community Fund
The National Lottery Community Fund distributes over £600 million a year to communities across the UK, raised by National Lottery players. Since June 2004, it has made over 200,000 grants and awarded over £9 billion to projects that improve the lives of millions of people.
