Lending a Helping Hand

Both members of the Rotary Club of Ayr, Brian and Muir were accompanied in the trip to Istanbul by their wives.

Muir, Wheelchair Project Convener, Rotary Club of Ayr explained: “We were witnessing the banding over of the wheelchairs to disabled adults and children suffering from spinal paralysis at the Istanbul Centre of the Turkish Association of Spinal Injuries. There are eight centres in Turkey and the association caters for all forms of mobility disablement, and it’s the distributor of our wheelchairs, together with the Rotary Club of Topkapi, Istanbul.

“Around 1500 people of all ages use or are assisted by this centre.”

Funding for the wheelchairs came from the Rotary Club of Ayr along with contributions from other Ayrshire Rotary Clubs totalling £12,500.

Muir explained: ‘The Wheelchair Foundation of America matched that amount to £25,000, which paid for one container load of 280 wheelchairs to be dispatched lo Turkey, a country where the Wheelchair Foundation had established that there was a real need for this sort of equipment.

“This project had been established by Ayr Rotarian Jim Eckford, former general manager Ayrshire and Arran Health Board, prior to his retirement.

“Jim had been at a presentation from the Wheelchair Foundation at the world Rotary conference in Barcelona, along with myself, a few years ago and became determined to raise enough money to send a container of wheelchairs abroad.

“In two years Jim raised £4500 from Ayrshire’s Rotary Clubs, before his untimely death.

“Since then the project has been carried on by members of the Rotary Club of Ayr as a tribute to Jim and his contribution and commitment to the Rotary movement.”

“Now we are delighted that the first batch of wheelcbairs has finally been distributed.”