Sponsored by
Group for disabled closes
A COMMUNITY group which has helped people with disablilities for the past 14 years has closed this week after being told to move its container of equipment off the car park next to The Courtyard, on Dunhill Road, Goole.
Trustees of The Goole and District Coalition of Physical Disabilities received a letter from car park owners, Goole Town Council, stating they had to remove the container as The Courtyard (Boothferry Road Community Project) wanted to buy the now empty Dunhill Road Community Centre and car park, with vacant access, in order to expand.
The Trustees took the decision to dissolve the organisation at their AGM last Monday night as they say they now have nowhere to park the unit, which is used to store wheelchairs, motorised disability scooters and smaller equipment.
Coalition chairman, Cliff Woolass, who set the group up in August 1996, said although the committee members had taken the decision to close, they felt they had been pushed into it.
"We feel as if we have had the rug pulled from underneath us and the decision has been made for us by someone else," he said.
The Coalition had already lost its Courtyard office at the start of the year due to a lack of funding and, although not ideal, Mr Woolass said it was still able to provide a service.
Among services such as providing wheelchairs to shoppers they also took IT services into the homes of severely disabed people who were unable to get into a college or other centres.
"We were trailblazers with the IT provision, as no-one else in the country provided such a service," said Mr Woolass.
He estimates that thousands of people have benefited over the years from the Coalition's input into the area and he and the other Trustees are hoping to give one last helping hand through selling the equipment stored in the container.
"We are hoping that any money we raise can be put towards funding disabled sports activities - in particular New Age curling that we have been trying to build up," said Mr Woolass.
The sale, which will include two brand new mobility scooters, two electric wheelchairs, 20 manual wheelchairs, other smaller aids and office equipment, will be held on Saturday August 31, from 10am.
"I would like to say a big thank you to all service users, Trustees and committee members, as well as members of the public who have helped the Coalition over the years," added Mr Woolass.
Courtyard management committee chairman, Ros Taylor, said the trustees had been talking to Goole Town Council for around two years about buying the former Dunhill Road Community Centre and the car park.
"We are now buying it, because we want to extend the activities on offer at the Courtyard but we are running out of space.
"It is a stipulation as part of the loan that we have secured from a bank that we get the centre and land with vacant possession and it has been the responsibility of the Council to instruct the Coalition and the Green Team to remove their containers."
A spokesman for Goole Town Council confirmed that letters had been sent to the Coalition and the Green Team to remove their containers from the car park.
MARKING the closure of the Coalition of Physical Disabilities is chairman Cliff and Wendy Woolass. Picture: Tony Saxton L8404TS
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Goole
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
