OVER the past year, staff at a Chippenham firm have raised more than £4,000 to help Wiltshire stroke survivors as young as five supported by the charity Back on Track.

Accountants at Mander Duffill, in St Mary Street, have collected £4,457 over the last 15 months through dress down days, cake sales, raffles and rather daringly a team of seven accountants put their fear of heights aside and jumped 10,000 ft out of a plane at Redlands Airfield in Swindon.

The money has gone towards a number of projects, including a cooking course for eight stroke survivors, and transport for stroke survivors undertaking work experience placements.

Mander Duffill has also helped by providing work experience itself.

Over 120 stroke victims have benefitted from speech and language therapy, counselling and physiotherapy since Back on Track was set up in July 2012.

Mike Parfitt, practice manager at Mander Duffill, said staff were keen to support local people through the Chippenham-based charity.

He said: “We knew that they were local, completely reliant on donations and did a wonderful job in helping people who had suffered from a stroke.

“When we discussed them with staff, it hit a real chord with them as there are quite a few people here who have had friends or relatives who had had a stroke.

“Our focus is on supporting local charities where we can make more of a difference than just handing over money.

“We wanted to be able to help Back on Track by offering work experience for some survivors and also get involved with events.”

Mander Duffill will be fundraising for Doorway, an open access drop-in centre for the homeless, next year.