FACE-PAINTING, football skills workshops and a barbecue will be among the attractions at this year’s Big Step Forward event.

The annual sponsored family walk is Down’s Syndrome Oxford’s biggest fundraising event.

Last year, 600 people descended on South Park, Headington Hill, for the fun day, which raised £12,000.

This year’s event, at Cutteslowe Park, North Oxford, on Sunday, June 14, will include a 4km walk among a backdrop of family events including stall games and music performances.

Oxford City Football Club will provide football coaching and a children’s entertainer will also be performing Down’s Syndrome Oxford is run by 20 volunteers. It supports 150 families, providing information about the condition, and social opportunities.

Volunteer Lucy Sanderson, 36, from Bicester, became involved with Down’s Syndrome Oxford after the birth of her three-year-old daughter Chloe.

She said: “The event provides a massive chunk of our annual budget.

“My daughter has benefited hugely from the charity. She’s gone to an early development group for pre-school children. It helps with speech therapy and she’s learning sign language.

“Children with Down’s Syndrome do everything other children do — they just take a bit longer and need extra help.

“They can lead very happy, sociable and fulfilling lives.”

Julie Bricknell, 37, from Evenlode Tower, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, will join her four-year-old son Oliver at the event.

She said: “It was amazing last year.

“I don’t think any of us anticipated that number of people turning up.”

Oliver receives regular speech and physical therapy through Down’s Syndrome Oxford.

Workers at Imagine Co-operative Nursery, which he attends, have already registered to walk as part of Oliver’s Army for the second year running.

Ms Bricknell said: “The charity has put me in touch with other parents of children with Down’s Syndrome — we share the good times and the bad.

“I am a single mum and for me it has been a really great lifeline.”