Scottish club receives £40k grant to improve disability access

A Scottish golf club has received a grant of £40,000 from its local council to carry out works to ensure improved access for people with disabilities.

Falkirk Golf Club, which is celebrating its centenary this year, received the funding from Falkirk Council’s Community Choices earlier this year and has already put it to good use.

Work outside the clubhouse and on the course has been carried out.

Anyone using the venue – before the work was carried out – was faced with steep deteriorating steps, uneven surfaces and access through a locker room fire exit.

Now a new ramp has been installed in front of the clubhouse, allowing direct access and there are also improvements to paths on the course allowing buggy users to experience safer playing conditions.

With the project completed, the club recently worked with members of Scottish Disability Golfers to host its first event for golfers who have additional support needs.

Club captain Nicky Barr said: “The funding means that those with mobility issues and wheelchair users can now access the club more easily and navigate around the course using the new paths. This has been so important for the future of the club and has enabled us to host this event recently.

“The previous arrangement meant that some people who were attending family events such as funerals or wedding receptions had great difficulty in accessing the club – it really meant that some felt excluded.

“The Community Choices award has allowed us to make our club far more accessible, ensured more individuals can take part in the sport and ultimately make us a far more inclusive club that can offer much to our local community for another 100 years.”

Falkirk Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “To date, Community Choices has paid out around £2 million to over 100 local organisations since it launched in 2021. The funding awarded to Falkirk Golf Club has ensured that more people can access its facilities and it can continue to support the local community.”