Children in Bradford could be deprived of development-enhancing toys if a threatened library closes, a doctor has warned.
Consultant paediatrician Dr Peter Corry is backing the Telegraph & Argus Save Our Play Appeal to help Bradford Toy Library.
The library, an independent charity based next to the Child Development Centre at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, will have to close in March unless it gets an urgent injection of cash.
More than 1,000 children with special needs and disabilities are registered to borrow specialist toys which help boost their development.
The library also houses the Laura Jackson Book Library, one of the biggest collections of books on special needs in the north.
Dr Corry said if the toy library was to shut it would mean some children and their families would not have ready access to important toys.
The items specially designed to help children with conditions like cerebral palsy or autism can cost at least £100 each.
"The toy library is useful particularly because parents can have plenty of toys, but the really important thing is it helps stimulate the child's development.
"Parents can buy toys but they are expensive and sometimes the child won't be able to use it or won't be interested."
Dr Corry said staff at the Child Development Centre - which sees about 250 new children with development delay or disability each year - used the toy library and recommended toys to parents.
"Borrowing the toys is one of the things that helps bring them on."
But he also warned that the book library - a vital information source to help parents understand their children - would be difficult to run if the toy library staff were not there. "I don't think the Child Development Centre staff could run the Laura Jackson Book Library on their own - there's quite a bit of work just checking out who's borrowed the books and we don't have enough time to do that," he said.
The Save Our Play Appeal is aiming to raise at least £12,000 to keep Bradford Toy Library going for another year or more.
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