Disabled people can explore the great outdoors thanks to a pioneering Colne Valley organisation that’s helped hundreds of people.
Experience Community is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company with a charitable side as well that helps disabled people access the outdoors through cycling, walking and conservation.
It’s based at Slaithwaite Civic Hall and has specialist bikes and trikes which are mainly hand powered so disabled people can venture right out into the countryside and even go on advanced mountain trike rambles.
Its outdoor base is at Leeds Urban Park mountain bike trail centre at Middleton Park in Leeds where people can go on Wednesdays and Thursdays and try Experience Community’s impressive fleet of outdoor kit including mountain trikes, off-road wheelchairs and hand cycles.
One cycle even clips onto the front of a wheelchair and some have motors to give a little extra help.
Experience Community was set up by wheelchair user Craig Grimes from Golcar in 2011.
Craig, who became paraplegic after an accident, said: “I wanted to get out into the countryside but there wasn’t any information out there. It’s so great to be in the outdoors, it’s such a relaxing environment that’s great for your mental health and also good physical exercise as well.
“The impact we’ve had on people’s lives is quite astounding. People getting out to places they thought they’d never get back to – it’s just an amazing feeling.”
Experience Community began as an information and advice website showing people trails they could do but has now grown over the years to do outdoor group rambles, wheelchair skills courses and now a social side that includes conservation work, board games, outdoor photography and trips.
They do weekend residential rambles exploring Yorkshire and work closely with Yorkshire Water, the National Trust and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Experience Community also does vital consultancy work with major companies and organisations such as the Natural Trust, Natural England and Yorkshire Water, surveying their land and walks to give advice on to how to make them more accessible.
Experience Community general manager Rik Legge from Marsden said: “A good example of this is at Scammonden Dam reservoir where we identified a gate part of the way round that was unnecessary so we asked Yorkshire Water to remove it, which they did, and it’s now easier to get round.
“The wheelchair courses we do are all about boosting people’s confidence and skills … and that can be very much just everyday use. There is very little support or advice for people who become wheelchair users so we thought we’d provide some.
“A lot of wheelchair users – and these can be long-term users too – lack the confidence to go out independently. Even if they are going to their local shops they may have to negotiate a steep incline, uneven ground or kerbs. All these can be major obstacles.
“Over the years, Experience Community has helped hundreds of people from across West Yorkshire with people also travelling to us from Durham and Nottinghamshire. It’s because what we do is unique.”
The Experience Community website is packed with information on routes accessible for disabled people through its sister site https://www.phototrails.org/ which gives detailed information and photos about each one.
Rik said: “Phototrails combines online mapping, geotagged photos of facilities and barriers and our unique route indicator system to give an overall picture of what disabled access is like. The information can be used by people with a variety of disabilities, families with pushchairs and walking toddlers or by older people who might require more detailed information before setting out on a route.
“Because different people have varying abilities we don’t say what is or isn’t accessible, we simply provide information so that you can decide if the activity is suitable for your needs.
“We hope that through providing the videos people can see exactly what the walk or activity has to offer. We also provide written information, maps, photos and links to other websites so people can really get a grasp of what to expect.”
For more information go to the Experience Community website which has a great video on it at https://www.experiencecommunity.co.uk/ or its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ExperienceCommunityCIC
To contact Experience Community phone 01484 841438 or email info@experiencecommunity.co.uk.
Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting.
Please support Huddersfield Hub by becoming a Patron for just £4.99 a month to help continue our coverage of local news, charities, community events, entertainment, business and sport. Subscribe HERE.
FoodCycle to launch free weekly meal to help boost mental health and well-being
