ALTONÕS Whitedown Special School is planning to stage a ÒGolden Wheelchair PushÓ on Sunday, July 2, and it is inviting all wheelchair users to take part.
To take place, subject to permission to close roads for the occasion, the event is being held in this the QueenÕs Golden Jubilee year, to raise funds to provide Whitedown pupils with the special equipment so vital to their education.
Invitations are being sent out to wheelchair user groups, both locally and in other parts of Hampshire and Surrey, embracing such as hospitals, nursing homes and special schools, but all users are welcome, whatever their age.
According to event committee chairman, Allan Chick, the wheelchair push is Òa walk, not a raceÓ and is being viewed as an event in which the whole town can participate.
It will start from Butts Green at 2 pm and travel towards the town centre via Butts Road, Draymans Way, Orchard Lane, Normandy Street, the High Street and Turk Street, to finish at Coors Brewery in Lower Turk Street at approximately 3-20 pm.
As well as hosting the finish, Coors, who now own the former Bass site, will be sponsoring the event, but more sponsorship would be welcome, perhaps in terms of erecting advertising banners along the route or on wheelchairs.
The committee has also put out a call for volunteer nurses and carers to help on the day, as well as relief ÒpushersÓ, since the route could prove too far for just one wheelchair pusher.
As well as expressing grateful thanks to Coors, the committee also thanks Alton Town Council for granting permission to use The Butts for the start of the walk, to the police who will be opening and closing the roads as the walk progresses, and St John Ambulance who will be in attendance.
Anyone able to help with the event is asked to contact Allan Chick on 01420 86101.