CHRISTMAS has come early for a four-year-old after his new wheelchair arrived. Jonty Smith has taken delivery of his new chair a month after well-wishers and donors helped raise the £8,858 total cost.

Jonty’s mum Jane Keen-Smith, dad Nick and his three brothers, who live in Farleigh Road, Pershore, had been waiting for the chair from Countrywide Mobility Services in Lowesmoor, Worcester.

It comes after a six-week fund-raising campaign.

Jonty has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and left hemiplegia – meaning the limbs of his left side are severely weakened.

Fund-raising manager Trudy Burge said: “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that Jonty was so overwhelmed and excited that he couldn’t quite believe that this time, the chair was really his.

“At one point he said, ‘Can I keep it Trudy, really, can I keep it now – is it mine, really is it mine?’ “It won’t take him long to suss out all the controls.”

l Jonty and friends will host a public thank you at Chapman Court by Plum Alley, Pershore, on Saturday at noon.