Gold medal-winner, Aaron Phipps MBE, has opened an all-inclusive outdoor play area at Longdown Activity Farm.
The play area, constructed by Apex Outdoor Spaces and Hunts Agricultural Contractors, includes a wheelchair swing and accessible playboards.
Longdown Activity Farm owner, Bryan Pass, said: “My wife, Dawn, and I are delighted to offer this latest opportunity for inclusivity at Longdown.”
Pass added: “The sight of the happy, laughing faces enjoying the wheelchair swing is simply priceless.”
According to the Family Resources Survey (2021 to 2022), there are 16 million disabled people in the UK, and 11% of children disabled.
The charity, Scope, who run the current campaign ‘Let’s Play Fair’, found half of families with disabled children face problems with accessibility in their local playgrounds.
In his speech at the opening event, Aaron Phipps MBE, commented that he had first seen an accessible wheelchair swing only eight years ago.
He said: “Being a child and playing with your peers is your basic human right.
“Being a child and playing with your peers is your basic human right.”
Aaron Phipps MBE
“There are children that have never been on a swing before.
“This is life-changing.”
Phipps is a British wheelchair rugby gold medallist of the 2020 summer Paralympics, and also completed an unassisted climb of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2016.
Director of Apex Outdoor Spaces, Phil Lovelock, said: “We were delighted to work on such an important project. It’s so rewarding to see the happiness that this project has created.”
“This is life-changing.”
Aaron Phipps MBE
Editor of New Forest Business News, Kerri Watt, was at the opening event and said: “It was the most amazing event, it had so much heart.
“It was a wonderful day to celebrate the new playground area with local families who were excited to use the equipment.”
Mr and Mrs Pass also run an assisted needs educational programme at Longdown Activity Farm.
They revealed the programme had given local students the confidence to develop practical and social skills.
To find out more about the all-inclusive play area and Longdown Activity Farm go to: www.longdownfarm.co.uk.
