Pupils and staff from GANF have been handed a transport lifeline following the delivery of a new 16-seat accessible Lord’s Taverners minibus this week (29 Jan), with Lincolnshire County Cricket CEO Martyn Dobson handing over the keys to the new vehicle.
The new 16-seat wheelchair accessible minibus (costing roughly £56,000, the school and Lord Taverners each contributed around £28,000) will enable the school to transport more children to therapeutic activities and events, and other activities that offer essential life skills development opportunities. The increased opportunity to access the local community and facilities on offer will provide pupils with the chance to experience things that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise and help improve their confidence and self-esteem.
Kyna Adkins, Interim Headteacher, said: “On behalf of all the pupils at Grantham Additional Needs Fellowship, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lord’s Taverners for the significant investment of a brand-new minibus. The pupils are exceptionally excited to have the new minibus which will provide them with further opportunities to develop their confidence and experience in accessing the local community.
We are keen to get all our pupils out and about as much as possible to apply their learning into the real world. Due to the additional needs of the pupils, they can often find it overwhelming to go on local transport and therefore this new minibus will allow all pupils to have a wide range of experiences as they prepare for adulthood.”
GANF applied for the new specially adapted minibus in 2020 but the pandemic and more recently, supply issues in the motor industry due to a lack of key components, Brexit, Covid-19 and most recently the war in Ukraine, led to the delay. Given there is no indication of when this may be resolved, costs increasing, new diesel vehicles being banned from 2030 and the greater demand for eco-friendly solutions such as electric vehicles, the Lord’s Taverners has taken the decision to honour any outstanding approved minibus applications while putting the rest of the programme on hold.
The delivery of the charity’s new strategy puts the primary focus on delivering impactful national cricket programmes that deliver life changing work in communities across the country daily. The charity will continue to work with those schools who have outstanding approved applications and look at ways in which support can be offered in finding alternative long-term transport solutions.
The Lord’s Taverners positively impacts the lives of young people facing the challenges of inequality. The charity works across the UK and beyond to provide inclusive and impactful cricket programmes, empowering young people with disabilities and from disadvantaged communities to overcome the challenges of inequality, raise their aspirations and reach their potential.
