AN evening of Christmas ice skating will raise money for two-year-old Ollie Baker who needs more than £24,300 for an operation to help him walk.

Ollie, from Lyneham, suffers from spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy which means the muscles in his legs are always tight and he needs a walker to get about.

The operation is not available on the NHS and in August his mother Carol launched a campaign to raise the money needed for it by signing up for a parachute jump.

She hopes that a private operation at Frenchay Hospital, near Bristol, would allow Ollie to run around with his six-year-old brother Josh in the future.

Whitehall Garden Centre, in Lacock, has agreed to donate all the profits from ice skating sessions at 9am and 10am on November 17 towards Ollie’s operation fund.

Ollie’s father Stephen, 42, used to work at the garden centre and the family goes ice skating there every year for the boys’ birthdays, which are a day apart on December 10 and December 11.

Carol, 39, a logistical co-ordinator at RAF Brize Norton, sent a letter to the garden centre asking for help. She said: “It’s brilliant of them to do that for us.

“When you write those letters off you don’t always expect to get anything back.

“The first time we went skating I thought Ollie was too young, but as soon as he saw Josh on there he wanted to go round.”

Ollie sits on one of the child-friendly banana shaped skis and is pushed around.

So far Carol’s campaign has raised £10,000 from various events, including a band night at the Woodlands Social Club, and a card party at The Mallard in Lyneham.

She said: “You don’t realise how generous people are sometimes.

“It’s quite emotional sometimes because you think why are they bothering?

“Why are we different from anyone else?

“I don’t think Ollie knows what’s going on at the moment, although he has clocked some of it.

He actually said the other night ‘mummy I’m going to walk’ so he has got a grasp of what’s going to happen, but obviously it’s quite hard at his age.”

Tickets for the ice skating sessions at Whitehall Garden Centre, Lacock, are £9.99 for adults, £7.99 for children and £4.99 for children under three.

To book call 01249 730204 or visit www.whitehallgardencentre.co.uk/icerink.php.

Money will also be raised for Ollie during a Christmas party at the Bug and Spider, Oxford Road, Calne, on Saturday, December 7, to include a visit from Santa.

Children can enjoy face painting, games, refreshments and a disco at the party, which will run from 3pm to 5pm. Tickets are £5. To book call 01249 248303.

To donate to Ollie, visit www.justgiving.com/stepbystep13.