Residential and care at home provider and registered charity, Care South, has donated £2,000 to Cycling Without Age Wessex.
The volunteer-led organisation based in Southbourne is the latest beneficiary of Care South’s Community Fund, which gives back to community groups, services and organisations which directly benefit Care South’s care home residents, care at home clients or staff.
Cycling Without Age Wessex provides free rides to older people and those with reduced mobility on a specially-made trishaw pedaled by a volunteer ‘cycle pilot’. This enables the passengers to go off-road and experience travelling through their local community in a different way to travelling in a car.
Residents from Wickmeads have enjoyed trips out on the Cycling Without Age Wessex trishaw as part of their varied activities programme.
Pat, who lives in Wickmeads, was looking forward to her journey to the beach at Hengistbury Head on the trishaw. She said: “It’s been a long time since I’ve been on a bike. There’s a lot of places that I’ll be able go to now.”
Care South’s Community Fund donation was presented to David Smith, Volunteer Coordinator for Cycling Without Age Wessex, by Simon Bird, CEO of Care South, Tracey Walker, Home Manager of Wickmeads and Charlotte Mitchell, Resident Activities and Lifestyle Lead for Care South.
David said: “We are so grateful to Care South for this generous donation, which will help us provide more free trishaw rides for older people with limited mobility. Care South’s residents love feeling the wind in their hair as they travel along the promenade and around the local area. We believe everyone should enjoy the outdoors, have fun, and connect with their community and this donation certainly makes that possible.”
Simon Bird, CEO of Care South, said: “We are delighted to support Cycling Without Age Wessex through our Community Fund. Their volunteers give up their time to enable our residents and other local people the chance to enjoy the outdoors and visit some of their favourite places without any limitations based on their individual mobility. It’s so important for our residents to continue to feel part of their local community and this initiative adds to our vast programme of activities that enable them to do that.”
Wickmeads care home, which is part of the Care South family of care homes, provides residential, respite, and dementia care to residents, with a dedicated activities team which organises a daily programme of events to bring residents together to socialise and build friendships.
Care South is a leading provider of high quality residential and home care services across the south of England. The not-for-profit charity has care homes in Dorset, north Devon and Somerset, with care at home offices covering Dorset and Somerset.
For more information about the care services available at Wickmeads, go to care-south.co.uk or call 01202 712410.