Disability Worthing - A PA's guide

As well as working as SEN Pastoral Support I do a little personal assistant work for children or young adults with disabilities. Every so often I want to know about new places I can go and whether they will be accessible to me and my client.

To make it easier for you to see if the venue will suit you too, I will include when I last visited and who I took there!

Aquarena swimming pool                                                                                       Where? Here

I'm pretty sure it has closed down now [Edit. Yes it has]. Part of me is glad, because the last time I went it was filthy and it was difficult to supervise my brother getting changed. He is 23 and has Down's Syndrome and is reasonably independent - the problem came when I had to loiter in the corridor between the male and female changing areas. This is where the gym doors are so I felt a little foolish! I also wasn't pleased when I found out the reason he was taking so long: the lockers are a type I haven't come across for years, they take less money but don't return it when you open the locker again. My brother had turned the key too soon and lost his 10p. I ended up going into the male change room to rescue him, and also running upstairs having thrown some clothes back on to get some change.
Brilliant.
On the positive, the staff there knew my brother by name and were very friendly and polite. As the new staff have been transferred to Splashpoint I'm sure they will carry on their good customer service. Which I'm glad is the only thing that will carry on....
Last visited: April 2013

Berick's Cafe, Findon                                  Website                                                        Where? Here

Another place I visited with my brother. He wanted to go out for breakfast and so we ended up at Berick's Cafe. I was impressed by the friendliness of the two staff working - neither were fazed by our arrival and they were patient when my brother placed his order. They didn't do the classic check-what-the-person-with-speech-impediment-is-saying-by-looking-at-their-neighbour, which always irritates me, and the food was lovely. They also have brownie points for selling us orange juice without bits in (you really don't want to know what happens when you give him juice with bits in).
Last visited: April 2013

Mewsbrook Park, Littlehampton                                 Website                                      Where? Here

Mewsbrook Park is a lovely place to have a gentle walk. There are wide paths around the small lake so accessibility is no problem, especially as the park has good parking at both north and south entrances. I tend to park on the south side in Hendon Avenue as it is essentially a cul-de-sac. I go here mostly with a teenage girl with mobility issues as it takes us a little over half an hour to get round the lake (quite slowly, admittedly) so it's a nice, non-stressful place to stroll. There is a play park at the north end too.
It's never too busy but is frequented by dog-walkers so beware if your child/client is scared of dogs. Or swans for that matter. There are a couple of viewing platforms with information about the birds which is a nice touch.
Last visited: Summer 2012


Worthing Library                                                Website                                             Where? Here

You've got to love your local library! Free and warm with a nearly endless supply of books suitable for everyone. I've curled up in the kids section with teenage clients before, reading them stories because of the horrible weather outside. I've never had anyone upset that the person I'm with is usually about ten years older than the other children in the kids area. However, the children's/disabled toilet is tiny, and quite difficult to help someone go to the loo in such a cramped space!
Last visited: May 2013


Steyning Swimming Pool                                       Website                                             Where? Here

I went here with my brother the week after our fairly disastrous trip to the Aquarena so my expectations were close to rock bottom. But Steyning pool turns out to be quite lovely. The facilities are clean and new, with changing rooms on the pool side so there are no problems with waiting outside the gents for my brother to change. we went at a specified lane-swimming time and the pool was quiet and calm with a minimum of family swimmers even though the next session included fun floats. The life-guards didn't panic at my brother's doggy paddle, trusting that I knew what I was doing with him! This has been a problem at Felpham swimming pool with a different client (P) who prefers to swim with a woggle or swim noodle. I had to prove that he could swim without one which caused him a lot of distress, just so he could swim lengths. I'm a lifeguard myself so I know they can't take people's word for it that their friends, relatives or clients can actually swim but I couldn't put P through that everytime a new lifeguard was there and, as they seemed to change shifts every week, I ended up acting as a buoy so he wouldn't swim too far.
Anyway, I found Steyning relaxing as well as clean and they had the added bonus of not putting the unhealthy drinks and snacks machines near the exit so my little brother couldn't spend his money on junk food!
Last visited: April 2013


Swanbourne Lake, Arundel                                      Website                                         Where? Here

I used to love coming here as a child as there are plenty of hills to climb and woodlands to explore. Other than that you can have a pleasant, if bumpy, walk around the lake in about an hour or rent a rowing boat. Not recommended for wheelchair access, especially as the parking is limited and involves a little walk up the road without pavements. I also think that the toilets have turnstiles although this may have changed. There are always plenty of ducks, swans and other water fowl to see and feed and, in the summer, the ice-cream shack sells beautiful ice-creams! The cafe isn't bad but there are narrow doorways and a few steps to negotiate. Good place to picnic or have a walk around here, feed the ducks, row in a boat and then head down the road to The Black Rabbit pub for a drink on the river-side.
Last visited: Summer 2012


Ferring Country Centre                                       Website                                             Where? Here

One of my favourite places, not least because my brother goes here. Recently they had a Royal visit to open their small animal pavilion so that at least is worth a visit! The small animal farm is a great place to go, I go every summer, although the ground is a little bumpy but there's not a lot of walking so it shouldn't be a problem. They have a wide range of animal including pygmy goats - my favourite! - and plants, fresh veg and other produce for sale. They also have a superb riding for the disabled unit with gentle horses and kind staff and volunteers and even a hoist. There is also a cafe on site. Parking is limited, but flexible - every summer we take around 70 special needs children here in shifts through CCPS and they are wonderful to us! Cannot recommend enough.
Last visited: Feb 2013

Hope these ideas and reviews help - I will add more when I have time. 
On the training front, we had another 5:30 training session this morning and it was hell! I found running up and down Highdown Hill really difficult but Martin reckons it's psychological. The pain in my feet definitely wasn't! At any rate, we have just under 4 weeks to go so I better get over whatever it is. 
I'll let you know!

CCPS - Chanctonbury Community Playscheme for special needs children

1977:  thirty-five years ago, near Chanctonbury Ring in West Sussex. In a quiet corner of a quiet town, a very special group of people realised that there was - and still is - a desperate need for fun, safe respite care for people with special needs. As this group was primarily made up of mothers who had children with mental and physical disabilities, they knew exactly what their children and others like them needed. These people went on to start the summer holiday play scheme known as CCPS. 

The children and volunteers
play parachute games in
the drama room.

Since that day, many other people have joined the organisation, mostly as volunteers and often devoting many, many years to working with children with special needs. The charity has grown from strength to strength and now runs for four weeks every summer holiday for approximately 70 children every day.


These children, who range in age from 5 to 19 years old, have a diverse range of complex needs. These include well-known conditions like Autism, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD or Downs Syndrome as well individuals with Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties or

Kenny's gone crazy!

So... Kenny Park wants to lay in the snow!

Do you remember way back when we started this gig I said that we'd do stupid things to raise our profile and to get people to donate? Well, we're still game for anything you can throw at us (maybe literally but let's wait until it get's warmer, yeah?) but you haven't been coming up with many ideas lately. After the success of our sea swim in December - check out the video - we need something to do in January. Because the fitness regime and continuous press-ups aren't nearly enough.

Like this only laying down.
And in swimwear.
And not at all fun. Uh oh.

So, as the latest part of our (torture) training, Kenny reckons we need some more practice at being very very cold. He has suggested that we get into swimming costumes and lie in the snow. I personally think he has gone totally crazy but I'm willing to support him in both this test and the possible trip to the hospital afterwards; for hypothermia or for craziness, whichever comes first. 

The only problem is... we need an incentive. Kenny says he'll do it for £30 but the more you give, the more people will join the freezing fun. And by 'fun' I clearly mean 'screaming, shivering, cursing and hopping around in near-hypothermic pain'.

Luckily for me and our fundraising attempts we've had a bit of a thaw down here in sunny Worthing: temperatures reached a tropical 3 degrees today so we'll have to wait for the next snowfall before we can go snowdrift-swimming.

You better jump on this bandwagon quickly (or suggest different activities here) because we're fast running out of January and snow is predicted later this week.

Keep an eye on the total here: http://www.justgiving.com/Kenny-Park 

Only 139 days left

Ice and Zombies

I have a confession. As the snow has come, my ability to get off the sofa has gone. As I speak, I am snuggled in the living room in multiple pairs of pyjamas, leg-warmers, dressing-gown and blankets: yes, even though it is 4pm on a sunday. 

My only possible excuse is that I was going to go for a run but, you know, it's slippery out there, what with all that snow and ice. Nobody mention yesterday's thaw, please. So since Friday (snow-day, day-off, yippee!) I haven't completed my Martin-training - not that I can do 40 press-ups on the trot anyway - and I haven't got anyway near 12,000 steps. Quite possibly hovering near 1,200. A day. Pitiful! I did, however, play Heavy Rain till 3am last night - a dark, film-noir-esque detective story with a lot of fighting in it.


So how to get out of this rut? I'm going to try a couple of apps over the next week to see if they motivate me to move. The first, MyFitnessPal, I've used before and found to be quite successful at reminding me what I'm eating (and what I shouldn't be eating!) and helping me to keep within a calorie limit.

The second, Zombies, Run, promises to be a story-led running app, which will motivate me to get out there and keep moving. A previous app (Zombie Run, it's a bit confusing), pitted you against a GPS map full of zombies you had to avoid to win. I found it very entertaining but the fact that I had to run while continuously checking the map on my phone disrupted my pace although the zombies wanting to eat my brains meant I had to take different routes to get home which was fun. The other problem with this app was the fact that it was better suited to running from one point to the other rather than round the block or neighbourhood which is what I (and I assume, many of you) do. Anyway, I hope that Zombies, Run will combat these niggling issues by having instructions given through the headphones and no strict necessity to check your phone every couple of minutes.

They're after you. No they really are.

So that's the plan! Watching what I eat with MyFitnessPal and if you see me running down the road like a crazy it's because some Zombies are chasing me!

I'll let you know how I get on, let me know if you have any good fitness apps or training tips here or by email and don't forget that there are many ways to follow us: Facebook, Twitter  and, of course, JustGiving! 

Only 140 days left! Thats only 20 weeks!!

Kenny explains it all

"Plank" position
image source unknown

Back in December our friend Martin devised a new fitness plan for us following on from the bleep test. (My phone autocorrected this to "sleep test" which I think we would have all been a lot happier with). Sarah, Elli and I (because we work with Martin) have been given targets in press ups, sit ups, walking and plank position. Every day we need to do 15 press ups, 20 sit ups, at least 8000 steps and one minute of the yoga plank position. Easy, right?

This progresses to 12000 steps, 20 press ups, 25 sit ups and 2 minutes plank in the second week, and by the third week we (super-humans that we are) will be doing 25 press ups, 30 sit ups, 12,000 steps and three minutes of the plank!

Best Christmas present ever!

Finally they have done it!

In my opinion the best product this year also wins the prize for best Christmas present. Not that I tend to give out prizes for anything as I am not an accredited film-board or Father Christmas's personal auditor but for this I'm prepared to make an example.

To properly explain we have to go back a few years. In November 2001 Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone was released in cinemas. In December 2001 my 11 year old brother Richard first put on his Christmas list (amongst an endless list of Scooby Doo DVDs), "a Harry Potter wand". Over the course of the next few years we bought him toy wands and battling wands but none of these were what he wanted: none of these could do real magic.

Finally! The infamous sea swim...

As promised - only 15 days after the fact - here is a video of our brave attempt to swim in the sea. Well sit in the sea. And, in my case, crawling desperately!

Swim in the Sea - Shock to the System!

I think you can guess that here at TeamCCPS we have been more concerned with preparing for Christmas than preparing for Tough Mudder. However, as I'm sure you recall, the lovely Liam was the first person to sponsor us 50 whole pounds and so won the chance to choose the time and date on which we would swim in the sea. 

This seemed like a brilliant plan in October but this morning the world had other plans and sent us a light sprinkling of frost - several of the team had trouble standing upright on the icy paths and I had to de-ice my car outside AND in before I could get to Worthing pier.

Chanctonbury Community Playscheme - Who We Are

Every summer, over 100 children gather for four weeks of fun and mayhem at Chanctonbury Community Play Scheme. What makes this play scheme special is that these children all have special educational needs and that it is run entirely by volunteers from the community. 

Through the four weeks we have many crazy days of water-fights, dressing-up, art sessions and sensory play to entertain the range of 5 to 19 year olds as well as the volunteers!

CCPS has been running since 1977 and through it's dedicated and energetic team leaders and the children who attend, it just gets better every year.

Help us continue to make these special children's summer holiday action-packed and memorable by following us here!