Tata Steel Shotton workers come to the ‘DIY SOS’ rescue

A team from Tata Steel Shotton came to the rescue and gave up a leisurely Sunday morning to transform the interior of the Shopmobility premises located at Kaleyards Car Park, just off Frodsham Street in Chester.

DIAL Shopmobility is an arm of the charity DIAL West Cheshire (DIAL House), which is committed to improving the lives of disabled, elderly and vulnerable people in West Cheshire and the surrounding area.

Shopmobility hires out mobility aids including wheelchairs, mobility scooters and walking aids to the public and has transformed the lives of so many people who otherwise couldn’t get out and about to shop, meet friends or just come to Shopmobility for a chat and a cuppa as they don’t see anyone else during the week.

Serious financial challenges

The charity DIAL West Cheshire is facing some serious financial challenges and has been looking at ways of becoming more sustainable over the next few years. One of their projects is to turn part of the Shopmobility unit into a retail outlet.

In addition to hiring out mobility equipment, the charity sells independent living aids but intends to expand this area in order to generate revenue to reinvest in its valuable services.

Funding to develop this retail area in the unit is tight and there is also a need to replace some of the older mobility scooters which are hired out daily.

Tata Steel Shotton to the rescue

Andrea Duckworth, a motivational speaker on disability issues and regular DIAL Shopmobility customer, approached her husband to see if his employer Tata Steel Shotton could help to smarten up the shop.

“DIAL West Cheshire has supported me and my family over the years. In particular, Shopmobility has helped me to become independent in the city centre in both my social and professional life.

It’s also the support from their staff and wonderful volunteers that have given me so much confidence knowing they are on hand to help. This is my way of saying thank you to them.” said Andrea.

A team of volunteer decorators from Tata Steel Shotton was led by Andrea’s husband, Bill Duckworth and they completed an amazing transformation of the interior of the Shopmobility unit in less than four hours.

Keith Roper CEO at DWC said:

“We are so grateful to Bill and his colleagues. We can already see a difference in the unit and we are really looking forward to developing this project and officially launching the retail unit in January.”

If you would like to make a donation and help them equip the shop or buy new mobility scooters to hire out, please get in touch with Yvette at y.thorman@dialwestcheshire.org.uk or to donate on-line please click on the link below
https://www.justgiving.com/DIALWestCheshire/donate