Charity will reopen thanks to huge grant

Scarborough Shopmobility provides much-needed mobility equipment to people living with long or short term disability.

A new social enterprise was set up at the beginning of the year with the hope of raising the £12,000 they need to reopen.

“Fruits of your Labour” gets the public to ride a bike which is hooked up to a blender to create a healthy, fruity smoothie.

The money made from selling the smoothies is then all donated to the charity.

But a grant of £12,000 from Stronger Communities at North Yorkshire County Council has enabled the team to reopen its doors to around 4,000 people registered with them.

Chairman Bill Whittles said: “It’s been a bit of a hard time for us really. Being a charity we rely on donations and grants and it’s been increasingly difficult to get them over the last year.

“Kelly has been absolutely brilliant and Wendy, our manager, has been with us since the beginning. They are so dedicated without them we would have fallen years ago.”

Now the charity has the money to reopen they hope to keep up the social enterprise so they do not need to rely solely on donations.

Manager Wendy Smith said: “We all chipped in and personally bought all the equipment we needed for ‘Fruits of your Labour’ because we have complete faith that it’s going to raise money for the charity.”

The team behind the charity wants to keep the service they provide as free of charge to help disabled people to get around town as much as possible.

The grant will allow them to reopen and help those in need of long and short term mobility equipment.

Scarborough Shopmobility, which opened in 2004, costs about £45,000 a year to run and helps around 4,000 people.

The social enterprise smoothie bike has already been booked for events throughout the year including Tour de Yorkshire.