CLASH activities

CLASH is a charity which helps people with all types of arthritis and other musculoskeletal conditions.

They provide support groups and their aim is to help manage the condition through exercise, nutrition and pain management.

One of the activities sponsored by Clash is a table tennis group who play at The Deep End behind Rawlins College in Quorn on Monday evenings.

One of the members, Cara Davidson, found she had rheumatoid arthritis at a relatively young age.

As an active Mum she was keen on walking and rock climbing with her twin sons, Ellis and Toby so this came as a complete surprise and has severely curtailed her activities.

Even so, they are all very active fund-raising for the charity with sponsored swims, walks and cake making. Ellis and Toby are very keen on cookery.

Apart from cookery classes at Lutterworth College where the boys learn to make pasta from scratch and tasty butter fillings they have raised over £500 with their cake baking skills.

Cara brings mirror image twins Ellis and Toby to the table tennis group each week. This describes a particular characteristic of some twins where their features appear asymmetrically, that is on opposite sides. For instance if a birthmark appears on the left side of one twin it will be on the right side of the other.

One will be left handed and one right handed as with Ellis and Toby. They might struggle with hand/eye coordination in sports. It may be that one side of the brain is more dominant in some areas than their twin so can have different strengths and skills. One may be more creative while the other will have a more logical approach depending which side is dominant.

Ellis and Toby who are fourteen have become very competent players through practice and the dedication of the volunteer coaches and have also shown their artistic talents in photography as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

An exercise DVD is also available.

Email info@clashgroup.org. uk or phone 0333 344 461 for more information.