Disabled children who benefited from a unique Bradford gym are heartbroken after it was badly damaged by fire.

Absolute Fitness, in Harrogate Road, was damaged when a blaze burned out the two storeys above it on Thursday. The ceiling caved in and flooring and equipment were destroyed by water damage.

Now gym owner Frank Walton is appealing for another business to continue his work helping children with a variety of disabilities, including dyspraxia, cerebral palsy, autism and Asperger's syndrome.

Mr Walton started working with disabled children because of his daughter Emma, 12, who has cerebral palsy.

"Some of the kids are really loose with their joints, and don't have much stability, and doing a workout helps them control their joints," he said. "It wasn't something we charged for, the parents accompanied them and took on the liability.

''We worked with them to get them up to a level where they could do it on their own.

"The staff volunteered to give their time up to take the kids around the gym. At one point we were looking into funding, and we had the equipment adjusted so it could accommodate a wheelchair. The other members helped out and any prejudices stayed at the door. It was an atmosphere you couldn't buy."

The gym also helped adults reco-vering from strokes and in need of other physical rehabilitation.

Fitness instructor Cindy Whitaker worked with Mr Walton for five years. She said: "It would be just a shame to put to waste all the hard work we've put in."

Judith Saunders, the paediatric physiotherapy co-ordinator at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, referred children to the gym. She said: "I don't know of any other facility like this - it is unique because Frank has got the knowledge that makes it different, and they didn't have to pay expensive fees."

One of the children affected by the blaze is eleven-year-old Ben Miller, from Aller-ton, who has dyspraxia - an impairment of the organisation of movement in the body, which leads to problems with perception, language and thought. He was one of the first children to go to Mr Walton's gym.

"I was a bit sad when I heard the news. I felt sorry for Frank as he has had quite a few things happen to him this year. It was just number one heartbreaking," said Ben who has been going to the gym for two years where he exercises on the treadmills and works mainly on his triceps and leg work. "It helps me concentrate more. When I was younger I found it hard to walk in a straight line and now I can do that."