A NEW computer suite in Basingstoke is set to help brain-injured patients with their recovery and recuperation.

The specially-designed room at Headway Place was officially opened last Saturday, and will be used by patients at the rehabilitation centre as part of their therapy.

It was paid for by money raised in memory of Adam Johnston, whose brother, Daniel, received treatment at the centre.

Headway Place, in the grounds of Parklands Hospital, is also celebrating its 18th year, and a plaque commemorating the life of one of the first patients to benefit from the centre was also unveiled at the ceremony.

Richard Waller was badly hurt when he was hit by a car 27 years ago, aged 10. At the time of the accident there was very little help available to people with brain injuries or their families, so his parents, Betty Waller and her late husband James, and his sister, Evelyn Vincent, helped set up Headway in Basingstoke.

Mrs Vincent said: "Richard was knocked down by a car and was unconscious for two years and then in hospital for five years. He died in 1987, a year after Headway Place opened.

"We started a Headway group in 1982 as a support group, but we always knew we wanted a daycare centre to provide therapy for brain injury victims."

Parklands Hospital offered the group an old building and, in 1986, Headway Place became only the second Headway day centre in the country.

The new IT room, which includes a specially-adapted computer, was paid for by Sandy and Janet Johnston, of Sherfield-on-Loddon, after friends raised cash in memory of their son Adam, who was killed in a car crash in Dubai in February 2003.

Mr and Mrs Johnston's other son, Daniel, was badly injured in a car accident in 1997, and used Headway Place during his treatment. He has since made a full recovery and is due to become a father for the first time this year.

As a result, his parents decided to donate the cash raised following Adam's death to help improve the centre for patients and staff.

Mr Johnston said: "Everyone was so generous after Adam died. We asked his wife what she would like us to do with the money and she said that Headway Place should benefit, so we talked with people at the charity and decided this was the best way to spend it."

The new room, named after Adam, will provide patients with specialist software to speed up their recovery, as well as games and the chance to contact other people at Headway centres around the country.

A £2,000 donation from Basingstoke-based Motorola has been spent on new wheelchairs and other equipment for Headway Place.

The charity's website - www.headwaybasingstoke.org.uk - was also launched at the weekend.