A KENDAL-based charity which provides scooters and wheelchairs to those with mobility problems will launch a major campaign next week to raise much-needed funds.

Kendal and South Lakes Shopmobility said it must bring in £127,000 over the next three years because grant money from the National Lottery Community Fund runs out in June.

This has led to a warning that unless the money can be raised the service may have to cut back or, at worst, it may have to close.

Shopmobility received a £127,000 National Lottery grant in 1999, which followed on from financial help in 1996, but it cannot apply for further money because only six years' worth of grant aid is allowed under the Community Fund rules.

Since Shopmobilty was established, membership has grown to 1,800 and it was used 2,900 times this year, opening six days a week for eight hours a day.

It offers the free use of scooters and wheelchairs to anyone, from disabled people to pregnant women and those with sporting injuries who are unable to get around, and is linked to shops and stores which have wheelchair or scooter access.

On Monday, James Cropper, the Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, will launch the campaign in the Westmorland Shopping Centre in Kendal, after agreeing to be the charity's patron for 2003.

Project development officer Pam Flitcroft said the service was "terrifically important" to its users and a "brilliant asset" to South Lakeland.

She said: "The service gives people independence and it gives them freedom, not only to users but to their carers as well.

"A women said to me recently that, because of it, for the first time in 10 years she has been able to go out and buy her own underwear, because before then her husband had to go out and buy it."

It is estimated that the service has running costs of around £44,000 a year, with money going on staff salaries, maintaining and replacing scooters, expanding the service to unserved parts of South Lakeland, training for staff and volunteers, and bills.

Mrs Flitcroft said: "We have known from day one that we had three years of funding which was given in 1999 and which would run out in June 2003.

"We have been seeking funding since then and looking at changes to the scheme. It does look like we are going to have to charge for membership, or for using it.

"I think people should be very concerned; I know our users are very concerned because they do not want to lose the service. If we lose it, Kendal would lose a brilliant asset."

Between now and June, the charity will be applying to grant-making trusts and has also organised a number of fund-raising drives, such as a scooter drive in June around the old towns of Westmorland.

Mrs Flitcroft said a survey of its users had shown that they spent more than £100,000 a year in Kendal alone, and that many tourists with mobility problems were visiting the area to use it.

Chairman Harry Marston said he hoped the town's shops would offer donations because they were the main beneficiaries of the scheme, after its users.

On Monday, the service will be handing out leaflets showing people how they can help. Anyone who wants to make a donation can call in at the office on Level 3 of the Westmorland Shopping Centre car park, or call 01539-740933 and ask for Mrs Flitcroft, or project assistant Lindsay Bullard.

January 3, 2003 10:00