WE’RE HAVING A BALL THANKS TO NEW GROUP
Paisley‘s Boccia club has boosted disabled members
03.09.2018 A group of disabled people are enjoying meeting up every week to take part in a special game of bowls.
Boccia is played by competitors who have a physical disability and wheelchair users.
The group has been meeting every week since March at the Tannahill Centre, and they travel from all over Renfrewshire to take part.
It is run by health and social care organisation Turning Point Scotland and funded by Renfrewshire Council.
Eileen Parkhill, service coordinator for Turning Point, said: “We took on two activity workers at the beginning of March and we have 52 service users across Renfrewshire.
“We wanted our members to make meaningful relationships and friendships by finding activities that they like doing together.
“We are at the very start of it and this is one of the activities we are doing. “Boccia is like French bowls. “Basically, it’s played the same way as outdoor bowls, so we have a white jack and then we have white balls and blue balls.
“They’re very soft but they’re also quite heavy.
“People will come here with all sorts of levels of ability.
“But it doesn’t matter what your ability is, you’ll still be able to throw or get the ball to a target.
“You could throw it, you could roll it, you could drop it.”
A lot of the people supported by Turning Point Scotland are older people, Eileen added.
“So they might have stayed in longterm hospitals and then move out into the community,” she said.
“But they might have played this in their day centres or their long-term hospitals, or maybe haven’t played it for a long, long time.
“So it brings together a memory of a game, and people tell us: ‘I used to like this.’
“There’s a gentleman who comes, who is absolutely fantastic at it, and this is one of the few activities he gets out to do.
“He just loves it and he’s very good at it.
“It brings people together in friendships – and it’s quite competitive actually.”
Tracy Fudge is 42 and uses a wheelchair after suffering a stroke.
She comes from Glenfield, in Paisley, and has been attending Boccia at the Tannahill Centre since it started.
Tracy said: “I like to see a lots of the different clients from different houses, and I don’t mind doing things for Turning Point. “I enjoy it in here because the hall’s bigger. “I don’t like small places because since I had a stroke small places make me panic.”
Tracy added: “I would recommend this to other folk.”
Meanwhile, 51-year-old Linda Cowan, from Linwood said: “I’ve been coming here for a while. It’s good. I enjoy meeting other people and I play it quite well.”
Karen Stevenson, 53, also from Linwood, enjoys Boccia. “I love it, playing the game,” she said. “And I’ve made new friends,” she added.