MORE of the natural wonders of the Forest will be accessible to people with limited mobility thanks to an all-terrain scooter project.

The Walking with Wheels project is making the ‘Tramper’ scoo- ter available from the Speech House.

The project, which is backed by the Foresters’ Forest programme, was officially launched at the Speech House Hotel – the base for the new Tramper – by Forest Paralympian Andy Lewis, user Emma Bosticco and Nicola Bird of sponsors the KW Bell Group.

Trampers have been available from Forest Holidays at Christchurch and Cannop Cycle Centre and the extended scheme will enable people to explore the Cyril Hart Arboretum, Speech House Lake, New Fancy and the GeoMap and Mallards Pike.

The new machine has been named ‘Belle’ in honour of the sponsors.

Sports star Andy Lewis said: “I think it’s really important that everybody can share the forest and that everybody has access to it.

“I’ve been trying to get my grandmother out into the Forest; she’s lived here her whole life but she unfortunately can’t get out of the house much anymore.

“It would be absolutely fantastic if I could put my running blade on and run alongside my nan in the forest for the first time.”

Ms Bosticco said she became a fan of the Tramper after one helped her get to a performance with Newnham Community Choir.

She said: “The first time I used it I was singing with my choir at the Wye Valley River Festival, and someone from Forest Holidays was there just testing it out.

“I arrived in my wheelchair and it was raining, so I couldn’t get to where I needed to be.

“The Forest Holidays superhero came over and said ‘Here, use this, you can go anywhere’ and I ended up borrowing it for the whole afternoon.

“It was amazing and I was booking it as soon as I could after that.”

Nicola Bird said the Bell Group was delighted to be involved in the project.

She said: “When my mother, Yvonne, first found out about this fantastic project, Chris Brown from the Forest Voluntary Action Forum (FVAF) had successfully secured most of the funding, but needed a bit more support to secure the project’s longevity – and this is where we became involved.

“The Trampers are the perfect fit for our Forest, and we hope that more people will benefit from being among the abundant wildlife and magnificent trees.”

Peter Hands, owner of The Speech House Hotel, added: “We are delighted to be supporting the Walking with Wheels programme and we’re looking forward to helping people get out and about in the forest.”

Trampers are available to hire for £2.50 an hour by calling the Speech House Hotel on (01594) 822607 or Forest Holidays on (01594) 837165.

For more information about Walking with Wheels and other projects from Foresters’ Forest, visit foresters

forest.uk