The Ivybridge Parkinson's Support Group is celebrating after being awarded £2450 of National Lottery funding from Sport England to deliver weekly specialist-led exercise.

The grant will allow the Ivybridge Support Group to continue to provide accessible and tailored physiotherapy exercises to improve mobility, balance and well-being.

The Parkinson’s Group launched in October 2025 and meets weekly to provide support and exercise in a friendly environment to people living with Parkinson’s and their carers.

Everyone is welcome.

Sue Berrill, Group Volunteer, is thrilled to have been awarded the funding, she said: “We know that research has shown that regular exercise helps people with Parkinson’s manage their daily life. But finding the motivation to exercise at home by yourself can be difficult. In our support group we provide exercise sessions that are inclusive and often great fun, supervised by physios and other professionals .

This generous grant from Sport England means that we we have the funds to continue to provide these sessions for a whole year and hopefully encourage more people with Parkinson’s to join us to benefit from them. Thank you to everyone who plays the National Lottery, we wouldn’t be able to do this without you."

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition, which means it causes problems in the brain and gets worse over time. According to the charity Parkinson’s UK, around 166,00 people live with Parkinson’s in the UK. People with Parkinson’s don’t have enough of the chemical dopamine in the brain because some of the nerve cells that produce it have stopped working. There are over 40 symptoms of Parkinson’s, but the three main ones are tremor (shaking), slowness of movement and rigidity (stiffness).

The Ivybridge and Area Parkinson’s Support Group meets weekly on a Friday from 10.15 -11.45 in the Baptist Church Hall, Exeter Road, Ivybridge, PL21 0BQ.