A brand new wheelchair accessible Mk III Wheelyboat, specially designed to provide disabled people with hassle-free and independent access to waterborne activities is being launched at Wareham Boat Hire, Dorset on Wednesday, 10 April.
The new Wheelyboat will enable disabled adults and children to participate in a wide range of water based activities on the beautiful River Frome. It has been supplied through Countryside Mobility South West, a scheme that is working to make the region a truly ‘accessible’ visitor destination by improving access to the countryside for people with limited mobility.
The Mk III Wheelyboat was designed and developed by The Wheelyboat Trust, a small national charity. At 5.3m long it is a versatile craft with a carrying capacity of eight people including wheelchairs. It is fitted with a drive-from-wheelchair console enabling people even with quite severe impairments to experience the thrill of driving the boat themselves.
As well as supplying the Wheelyboat, The Wheelyboat Trust helped raise the funds to build and equip it.
Matt Jones, Wareham Boat Hire Manager said, “We are really pleased to add the Wheelyboat to our fleet of hire boats and are very much looking forward to enabling more people to access and enjoy the river and the surrounding environment.”
The new Wheelyboat will now enable all to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the beautiful River Frome.The scheme has been supported with a grant from Natural England as part of its Access to Nature programme, funded from the Big Lottery Fund’s Changing Spaces programme. Additional funds were generously provided by the Nineveh Charitable Trust, Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation, Frognal Trust, Elmgrant Trust, Norman Family Charitable Trust, Suzuki GB and Wareham Boat Hire.
