The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Wheelie Good Access
Daniel Cowan of Lockerbie Wheelchair Curling Club shares how National Lottery funding helped open up their rink to everyone
School sports can be incredibly frustrating for anyone whose body works differently. For Daniel Cowan, who uses walking sticks to get about, PE lessons such as football and rugby were simply off the cards.
“I couldn’t do an awful lot of sport when I was young,” says Dan, who was born with spina bifida, a neural tube defect which stops a baby’s spine developing properly.
It meant the 33-year-old from Lockerbie, Scotland, had to look elsewhere to satisfy his sporting ambitions, finally discovering a sport that caught his imagination - wheelchair curling.
“I enjoy the social aspect, getting to meet new people and taking part in competitions,” says Dan, who became a member of Lockerbie Wheelchair Curling Club 15 years ago.
While moving around independently and using the toilet are things most people take for granted, for wheelchair users, limited facilities and lack of accessibility can stop them embracing sport. It was a problem for the club who loved their home at Lockerbie Ice Rink but knew its lack of accessible features thwarted their ambitions to host large competitions and encourage new members.
Things improved when the club’s Wheelie Good Access project received £41,292 in National Lottery funding from The People’s Projects. “The transformation of the rink was only made possible by The People’s Projects, we couldn’t have even aspired to it otherwise,” says Isobel Cowan, Dan’s mother and the club secretary and coach. The money allowed them to add two accessible toilets and dramatically improve accessibility to the ice rink. Heavy doors now open via a button and there’s a permanent wheelchair ramp down to the ice.
“It means the players using wheelchairs are more independent - they don’t have to wait for someone to put down the ramp or open doors, but can go straight on to the ice,” explains Isobel. The People’s Projects is back again and looking for this year’s winners. So have your say in how £4m of National Lottery funding is put to good use by brilliant community projects near you. Look for good causes in your local area and vote now at
thepeoplesprojects.org.uk.
Now the Lockerbie Curling Club is aiming for new heights. “The funding made things so much easier for us,” says Dan. “We play three or four national competitions every season, and we’re hoping to host more ourselves.”
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