Liberty wheelchair swing on the move

The only wheelchair swing in Cambridge is on the move due to lack of use.

The Liberty Wheelchair Swing is being reloacted to Hamilton North School where there are 95 disabled children, 25 of which use wheelchairs.

The swing has been in a park on Thornton Rd for seven years and was the result of a community-funded project.

In 2010, the swing was installed after 18 months of hard work by Totara Charitable Trust’s Mike Alton and his team which raised $35,000 for the swing.

But because it is hardly used, it’s on the move.

‘‘I’m a bit gutted, it was a lot of hard work and the community was so involved,’’ Alten said.

‘‘But I do still really appreciate the help we got from members of the public, different charities, and businesses at the time.’’

First his charity donated a ramp to Riding for the Disabled, which had about 30 children using it.

The swing was his next project, but unfortunately it has not been used as much as he had hoped.

‘‘But at least it is going somewhere it will be used, and hopefully worn out as opposed to sitting out here rusting away.’’

Now that it has been removed, the closest wheelchair swings to Cambridge are in Hamilton and Taupo.

Alten and a team of volunteers, most of whom were involved with the project from the beginning, spent one day recently taking it down.

Hamilton North School has students aged between five and 22, with a wide range of disabilities including intellectual, physical, vision and hearing.

Many of them have health challenges such as epilepsy and several have degenerative health problems with no prospect of a cure.

The school transport their students to Hamilton Lake to use the wheelchair friendly playground equipment, but it was a time consuming process to harness them, transport them, and then re-harness them for the trip back to school.

Principal Tony Kane said an on-site swing would be in regular demand, and would become a much more normal part of a child’s school day for wheelchairbased students.

Their role is expected to exceed 130 this year.

It took volunteers a full day to remove the swing from its Thornton Rd location in Cambridge. It will be moved to a school in Hamilton.