Sign Up TODAY for our FREE Newsletter for UK Residents  Sign me up >

FTC Disclosure

If you make a purchase via a link on this site, Disability Grants may receive a small commission on the transaction - at no added cost to you. Thank you!



Sandbanks, Shore Road & Branksome Chine Beaches, Poole

Our amazing chairs lined up ready for use!

Our amazing chairs lined up ready for use!

Poole has become the first place in Britain to pilot MobiMats, and floating beach wheelchairs.

Launched on Tuesday 26 July by the Mayor of Poole, Cllr Xena Dion, the ‘Life’s a Beach’ project was funded by the joint Tesco and Groundwork’s Initiative, ‘Bags of Help’.

The Borough of Poole Beaches Team was awarded a grant of £10,000 by the Initiative, as voted for by shoppers, which is funded entirely by the 5p bag levy.

Voting for the allocation of available grants (£8,000, £10,000, and £12,000) took place in Tesco stores across the UK from 27 February until 6 March 2016, with customers choosing where the funding should go via a token scheme.

The MobiMats are highly durable walkways, which can be divided and moved to facilitate all beaches across Poole. Creating a clear and easy path, the MobiMats are ideal for wheelchair users, those with pushchairs, and beach users who may struggle to walk on the sand.

Alongside the MobiMats, Poole is now home to three floating beach wheelchairs. The wheelchairs, which feature lightweight aluminium and stainless steel frames, all-terrain wheels, secure harnesses, and buoyancy aids on the arms, are suitable for use on the MobiMats, or on the sand.

The chairs, which are free to use, were first trialled on Tuesday by Gully’s Place Buddy Kaitlin Moors. Kaitlin, and all other wheel chair users, will now be able easily get to the water’s edge, and even go in the water, using the chair as a base to swim from, or to securely and safely float in.

Kevin McErlane, Head of Culture and Community, Borough of Poole, is pleased with the result. “The new MobiMats and floating wheelchairs will now allow anyone to access our beautiful beaches here in Poole.

Suitable for all users, we are very proud to say that we are the first area in the UK to have these life-changing facilities, and we look forward to everyone being able make the most of their visits to Poole.”

The MobiMats and floating wheelchairs have been supplied and installed by Bournemouth based medical supplies specialist, GE Bridge & Co Ltd.

For more information about the MobiMats, or to reserve a floating wheelchair, please contact Sandbanks Beach Office on 01202 708181.

ANSWER:
Thank you for posting the chairs look amazing. I do like the idea of the Mobi-matting. I hope the trial goes well as this will make such a difference.
Julia

Comments for Sandbanks, Shore Road & Branksome Chine Beaches, Poole

Average Rating starstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar
Beach Wheelchairs
by: Cathy

I have just come across this article as I have been looking at accessible equipment for families going on holiday.

I think it is a fantastic idea that in Poole they are providing mobi mats and wheelchairs that you can use on the beach.

I am a paediatric occupational therapist and I know that families struggle to go away with their children and this will make it much easier for them.

Thank you to Poole Council and Tesco for making this happen.

Rating
starstarstarstarstar
Beach wheelchair
by: Rob

Just returned from holiday to the seaside as we live in the Midlands and we have to say how great it was to be able to get our son who is wheelchair bound into the sea with the use of the Beach Wheelchair and how happy he was to have been able to get onto the beach and into the sea.So THANKS TO ALL who have made it possible to have the Beach Wheelchairs for people who would not normally be able to access the Beach and the sea.


Rating
star
Mobi mats at Sandbanks
by: Anonymous

I went to Sandbanks today hoping to use the mats. To my shock there were none there and told by a Life Saver that they hadn't been put down at all this year.

ANSWE$R:
That's strange I wonder why?

Rating
star
No mobi mats at Sandbanks
by: Anonymous

They have taken it away and put one on Boscombe beach which goes only half way down to the sea. The council say they have replaced it with a wooden boardwalk at Sandbanks but I can't find it.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Beach Wheelchairs for Hire.



Copyright © 2010-2024 Disability Grants Ltd 

Company number: 8937008

VAT Number 207954787