The not-for-profit Countryside Mobility scheme run by the charity Living Options Devon that covers the whole of the South West South West has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Visit England Awards for Excellence 2014. The scheme is designed to help those with limited mobility access more than 30 of the South West’s most popular attractions through all-terrain mobility scooters.
Following their Bronze Award for ‘Access for All’ at the South West Tourism Awards in Plymouth, Living Option Devon’s Countryside Mobility scheme has now been shortlisted as a finalist in the ‘Access for All Tourism’ Award Category of the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. This means they scheme is guaranteed a Gold, Silver, Bronze or Highly Commended award at the glittering ceremony held on Monday 12 May 2014 at Cheltenham Racecourse in Gloucestershire.
The Visit England Awards attracted 368 applications for the 2014 Awards – an increase of 15% on 2013. James Berresford, Chief Executive of VisitEngland said: “I would like to congratulate all those nominated as finalists for this year’s VisitEngland Awards for Excellence. We receive hundreds of applications each year of an extremely high standard, so it is a tremendous achievement for Countryside Mobility to become a finalist and to represent the top five in their category in England. I wish all the finalists the very best of luck for the awards ceremony in May.”
Diana Crump, Living Options Devon’s CEO is thrilled with the scheme’s news this month, commenting: ‘It is an honour to be a finalist at the Visit England Awards for Excellence and Living Options Devon feels extremely proud to host such an innovative and important regional access for all project. Countryside Mobility makes a real difference to disabled visitors and locals across the South West, and we are proud that more and more attractions are working with us to ensure that the region is accessible for all. Our huge thanks goes to all our partner sites whose enthusiasm and commitment have been key to the success of this scheme.’
For full details about Countryside Mobility and a list of their sites visit www.countrysidemobility.org / call 01392 459222. You can also find out more about Countryside Mobility by following them on Twitter @CMSouthWest or Facebook CountrysideMobility.