A charity that aims to make St Andrews’ West Sands beach accessible to all has struck a new deal to deliver services for the summer season.
Following two successful years of operation, the team behind St Andrews Beach Wheelchairs is currently finalising plans in preparation for the coming months
The accessible tourism service has helped establish the town as a leading accessible destination in Scotland.
Local charity The Hamish Foundation was responsible for the concept, fundraising and recruitment of volunteers to operate the service but the organisation has announced a collaborative partnership with the St Andrews Environmental Network which will see the latter operate it for the next three years.
This will include the operations and marketing of the accessible service to users including bookings management, enquiries and the provision of a welcome service from their cabin on the west sands.
The Hamish Foundation will continue to fundraise for the beach wheelchairs, accessibility projects and others for local improvements including the beach viewing gallery, accessible walkway, soft sand walkway and changing places facility at the Bruce Embankment, with further initiatives planned over 2020 and 2021.
Debbie MacCallum, co-founder of The Hamish Foundation, said: “As a charitable organisation we are delighted with how successful our beach wheelchairs service has been.
“A key focus has been enabling St Andrews to be a more inclusive place to live, work and visit and the St Andrews Beach Wheelchairs service has been a key pillar in this strategy.
“On behalf of the Hamish Foundation, we would like to thank the many businesses, organisations and individuals who have supported the project thus far and hope that they will continue to support us.
“As a charitable fundraising organisation, we must focus our small team’s efforts moving forward on new fundraising plans to support our new St Andrews local improvement projects.”
More than 230 bookings for the wheelchair service have been made in the last two years and organisers hope this number will grow significantly.
Jane Kell, manager of St Andrews Environmental Network, said: “We are delighted to partner with the Hamish Foundation on this very successful project.
“Our aim is to protect the environment around St Andrews but we also feel passionately that everyone should be able to access and enjoy the local area.”
