50@50 Award Progress Report
Further to our successful bid for a grant from the AJC 50@50 fund , I am happy to report on our progress in dispensing these funds.
Replacement Chair.
We have on pre-order for delivery in June, a Sandcruiser All Terrain Wheelchair from Ross Handling Ltd in Leicester and the quote is £2559.90 including delivery. These chairs have recently become available from the UK (previously we had to order from the US). The chair should arrive in good time for our busy summer season in July and August. The fact that these chairs are now available from the UK is very convenient for us as it greatly reduces the lead time for ordering parts and delivery costs enabling us to order parts on an as needed basis.
Additional Chair
We have on order an additional Hippocampe chair – again from the UK – and have been quoted £2,289. We have found these chairs to be very popular with children and younger people as they are more modern and have less the appearance of a wheelchair. As access is more difficult to the Hippocampe, these are for our users who are less disabled or who are very light as access must be achieved with the assistance of the carer.
Storage Sheds.
The last component of our bid was for a replacement shed at St Brelade's Bay. As we mentioned this is is our most popular location and we identified a need for a bigger shed to house an extra chair.
We now have had our planning application approved for St Brelade's and our carpenter has advised that he is ready to start building the shed. He originally quoted £2,200 for materials and labour but we expect this will increase due to the rise in cost of materials.
The Changing Places building which provides comfortable changing and hoist facilities is in place and was officially opened on 23 February and our clients will have full access to this.
Due to a discounted price for the Sandcruiser and a reduced provisional estimate for the St Brelade's shed we we probably will have an underspend on our £10,000 grant. However, our new accommodation at Le Braye will be in the new Healing Waves Surf Centre which is presently under construction and originally was at no cost to BeachAbility. However, with a change in design the cost increased and we were invited to contribute to the shortfall which we were happy to respond to with a donation.
With these additions to our fleet and two new storage facilities coming online we look forward to being very well placed to offer an improved service to our clients and we very much appreciate the support of the AJC 50@50 award which allowed us to fulfil these plans.
Margaret Le Herissier,
for BeachAbility
