HUNDREDS of parents took part in a protest march to object to changes at a specialist centre for children with disabilities and life threatening illnesses.
Nearly 200 people who use Hop, Skip and Jump in Kingswood travelled to the charity's headquarters in Avening, Gloucestershire, to hand a 2,050-name petition to trustees asking them to reconsider changes made at the Grimsbury Road centre.
While around 70 supporters and users of the service boarded a battle bus draped with banners, others drove in convoy before forming a procession to walk the final half a mile to the HQ.
Parents are upset the charity behind the centre has moved its focus away from a daily drop-in service to respite sessions since March.
The centre used to open six days a week and offer a free drop in service where parents could bring their children - and siblings - to play with others.
Mum Tamsyn Carey, 39, of Soundwell, whose children James, seven, and Patrick, four, use the centre, said: "The centre used to be open six days a week and was a safe place where you could relax and the children could play together in a happy environment."
Nina Glossop, 47, of Kingswood, whose son Riley, five, was born with Down's Syndrome, said: "The consultant at the hospital told me to go to Hop, Skip and Jump and it has become a special home for us. I used to love school holidays with the children as there was so much to do there, I feel isolated now."
Mum Alison Jones, 38, of North Common, used to take her son Thomas, five, who has cerebral palsy and is oxygen dependent, to the centre. She said: "We loved going to the centre and spending time with friends, it was accessible and safe. "He has become isolated from other children."
Parent and chair of the Hop, Skip and Jump Parents' Group, Julian Burr, 33, said: "The centre was working perfectly well and the changes to the service have been a very bad decision by the trustees."
Trustees say the changes at the centre were designed to continue to meet the needs of families currently using the centre and make the centre available to other families in Bristol, Bath and North Somerset in desperate need.
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