Course for people with disabilities opens

A unique golf course designed specifically for people with disabilities has opened in Middlesbrough.

The four-hole venue, The Orchard, was built by a charity that received £78,000 of lottery funding to develop the facility.

The wheelchair-accessible golf course, which has been built within an activity area and multi-sensory garden, will provide social and health care to members of Middlesbrough Gateway Club, a charity for adults with severe learning disabilities.

The project took a year from application to actually being built and is the only one of its type in the country.

Karen Cavana, operations manager for The Orchard, said: “This is a fantastic facility that will certainly assist with increasing physical activities for those individuals who have both complex health and social care needs.

“We hope this will also assist other individuals within the community who have little or no access to other community resources, building an understanding and acceptance for our service users group within the wider community.”