Newlife’s history

In December 1990 by Leonard Lewis, Bernard Lewis and Clive Lewis, our first Trustees.

The Birth Defects Foundation launched on 13 March 1991 with Sheila Brown CEO and co-founder taking on the challenge of promoting and growing the charity.

At that time our primary focus was supporting research related to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of birth defects, as these were the UK’s biggest threat to child health.

and later became our Medical Director Trading Company set up. The Charity supported the setting up of a separate Trading company.  This was to recycle and raise funds from the management of corporate products donated to the charity and processed by the registered recycling company – Birth Defects Trading Limited.

Selling donated and end-of-line goods from retailers to raise vital funds for the charity’s work.

By the turn of the millennium, the charity’s support groups had evolved to include a free Nurse Helpline for families and professionals.

By this time our focus was much wider, and we were not only funding Birth Defects Research and Campaigning, but also introduced our national Nurse Helpline, our Reach Out fund which then led to us launching our Equipment Grant service.

The service rapidly expanded, helping its 100th child within months.

Publishing the ‘It’s Not Too Much To Ask’ campaign report on equipment and services for disabled children, highlighting gaps in provision and calling for change.

We set aside the term BDF in our name to make it simpler for people to understand who we are.  Our research continued to focus on Birth Defects.

Newlife Opportunity Centre opened in October 2008 for volunteering opportunities. Tens of thousands of volunteer hours have been given in the centre!

This unique priority service aimed at getting essential specialist equipment to terminally ill children within 72 hours, launched as a spinoff of the Grant scheme as it had become apparent some children just couldn’t wait for essential equipment. This is now our Loan service and continues to help all disabled children.

Funded by Newlife and the Bernard Lewis Family Charitable Trust, this Centre was opened at the Institute of Child Health in London by HRH Princess Royal.

In this year we also introduced our first Term Trustees.

This scheme has been very successful with both our families and donors providing play opportunities for thousands of disabled children and their families.

Published in July 2012, reporting on disabled children’s equipment provision using evidence from professionals supporting applications to Newlife’s Equipment Grant Scheme.

Following sustained campaigning, changes came into force on 9 March 2015 to the ‘Use of Invalid Carriages’ rules within the Road Traffic Act 1988, increasing the permitted weight limit (up to 200kg when additional weight is from necessary user equipment). This helped more disabled children and young people access modern, hi-tech powered wheelchairs.

In December 2016, our Charity and Trading company placed all their assets into the new registered CIO, combining our focus and reducing the costs of running two separate organisations. Now all our staff have one single focus, a single vision, mission and values. Together, with our supporters and volunteers, we aim to change children’s lives.

Publishing a four-point plan to improve access to the right specialist equipment at the right time, including tackling “blanket bans” and improving emergency response.

It was a tough time for everyone, but we were able to continue helping children and their families and launched a Poverty fund.  We survived and continue to look forward to the many new opportunities open to us to grow our services to help even more children.

Launching online shopping to help supporters across the UK raise funds for disabled children.

The largest store in Newlife’s portfolio opened in High Wycombe, taking the number of Newlife stores (at the time) to ten across England and Wales.

A major milestone celebrating the impact of Newlife’s equipment support for families across the UK.

Publishing ‘Fight For Our Future: Act now for disabled children’, which was endorsed by a number of charities and professional bodies, combining family and professional insight with Freedom Of Information  research to highlight barriers and call for practical reforms.

Working with partners to support the launch of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), creating a platform for evidence, lived experience and policy recommendations to improve access to essential disability equipment.

As we mark 35 years of impact, 2026 brings an exciting rebrand which puts our mission front and centre of all we do, alongside the launch of an overarching charity strategy which will see Newlife cement our position as a leader in the field by supporting one million disabled children over the next ten years.