Barrow Blueway can be enjoyed by all with inclusive initative
Sean O'Mahony and Kate Crowley enjoying a cycle along the blueway.
CATHAOIRLEACH Aoife Breslin cut the ribbon on Kildare Sports Partnerships (KSP) new Athy Barrow Blueway Inclusive Initiative recently at Dily Dally Café on the Grand Canal Barrow Blueway (R14PT96) near Athy.
Initially, an application was submitted to Sport Ireland by KSP for a wheelchair-accessible toilet and a storage unit to house the tandems and wheelchair bikes, the funding was secured under the Dormant Accounts Fund.
This initiative was over a year in the making with lots of meetings, collaboration and engaging with key stakeholders. Special thanks to Linda & Martin Sourke owners of Dilly Dally Café for collaborating and fully supporting this inclusive initiative.
The Athy Lions Club who fundraised for the purchase of the wheelchair cargo bicycle. Waterways Ireland played a huge part in the infrastructure of this project.
The launch included staff of KSP, Cathaoirleach Aoife Breslin, Paralympic athlete Patrick Monahan, and representatives from several organisations including Active Disability Ireland, Irish Wheelchair Association, Deaf Sports Ireland, The Athy Lions Club, Senator Mark Wall, cllr Brian Dooley, local people from the community and a group of teachers, interpreters and students from Cork, Dublin and Limerick Deaf Schools who were on a two-day visit to Athy and one of their activities was a cycle along the Barrow Blueway.
Majella Fennelly of the KSP who led this initiative said: “It was a perfect day to launch this initiative as the initial booking by Maggie Owens facilitator of the Deaf Schools visit to Athy for 35 participants to cycle had a wheelchair user, a visual impaired student and two students that couldn’t cycle, these students were able to participate alongside their peers as a result of the wheelchair bicycle and the tandem piloted bicycles now available. It really was wonderful to see this project all come together and everyone enjoyed excellent coffee and homemade delicious bakes at Dilly Dally Café.”
A huge thank you to Athy community gardaí especially Sean O’Mahony for all his assistance, and all KSP tutors and volunteers.
This initiative will now welcome individuals & families living with disabilities, additional needs, people who are blind or with visual impairments and provide them with the opportunity of utilising a wheelchair accessible bike, tandem pilot bikes or a handcycle bike. This will play a significant role in the physical, social, and mental wellbeing for people in the community and county of Kildare! To find out more about booking the bikes send an email to ksp@kildarecoco.ie.
