KENDAL'S Shopmobility scheme celebrated its 1,000th member with a presentation and congratulations all round.

And although 1,000th member Allan Morgan-Thomas, of Oxenholme, admitted he'd had to slow down a bit, he had nothing but praise for the scheme, which has enabled him to become more mobile.

" The last time I rode a bike, it was a 1,000cc BMW!" he reminisced after receiving a bottle of Scotch whisky from town mayor, Coun David Birkett.

"So becoming a Shopmobility member was a very nostalgic experience at first.

I was going at 5mph instead of 100mph!"

A recent experience while visiting Levens Hall had made him join the scheme, explained Mr Morgan-Thomas.

"I usually have to read a book while my wife walks round the gardens.

But when I found I could use the Shopmobility scooter there, there was no stopping me and she nearly had to run to keep up!"

As a retired social work educator and an enthusiastic former rugby player, Mr Morgan-Thomas said he had always tried to understand the problems which less-mobile people faced.

"But it wasn't until it happened to me, that I really appreciated the frustrations involved.

This scheme is absolutely marvelous.

It gives you independence," he said.

Mr Morgan-Thomas's wife, Anne, received a bouquet from Shopmobility's project development officer Pam Flitcroft, who said that the scheme would be celebrating its fifth year in December, and hoped to buy another mobility scooter.

Praise for the scheme also came from County Coun Alan Bobbett, who said it was not just the scheme itself, but the people who ran it, who made it such a success.

"As an MS sufferer I use the scheme frequently and the people here cannot do enough to help you.

I often attend county council meetings on a Shopmobility scooter," he said.

Also at the presentation was Daisy Holme, of Sparrowmire Lane, Kendal, who was Shopmobility's 500th member in September 1999.

After the presentation, Coun Birkett, who is also Kendal Town Council's representative on the Shopmobility group, said the scheme was now proving popular with visitors to the town, through coach tour operators getting to know about it.