Wheelchair users will have easier access to Southend beach thanks to Echo money

The Gannett Foundation has donated the money to the Tram Stop Shelter project to pay for better disabled facilities at the Thorpe Bay seafront shelter, which include new beach matting to help wheelchairs get down a ramp to the beach and a new all-terrain wheelchair.

The shelter is being redeveloped to provide public facilities including toilets and changing rooms for disabled people and the shelter has been demolished to enable the work to take place.

Bob Craven, chairman and trustee of the Tram Stop Shelter project, said the wheelchair would be available for families with disabled children aged between five and 16 when they came to visit the seaside.

He said: “The money’s amazing because it is now the first of several stages of our initiative, that is the Tram Stop Shelter initiative of Caring-On-Sea which is to improve the facilities for disabled people in Southend from Shoebury to Leigh and this is the first part of that process and it will enable people to get onto the beach in wheelchairs with their family and friends and this is the first place in Southend that will have that facility.”

Eileen Lindford, of Marcus Avenue, Thorpe Bay said the beach matting had provided her with the opportunity to get on the beach for the first time in 12 years since a stroke left her wheelchair bound.

Previously, she had to stay in her wheelchair on the promenade above the beach while her family was visiting, but now she will be able to join them.

She added: “Previously, I would not have been able to get down onto the beach with a wheelchair because it would not have been stable, but it will be fantastic to have the beach matting, not just for me, but also for my husband, family and carers because I will be able to join them.”