Gimme shelter – new facilities for Willows residents

Residents on the Willows Estate on Grimsby have no fear of the rain and showers thanks to funding from Lincolnshire Co-op and the generosity of Lincolnshire Housing Partnership (LHP).

The social housing provider, which provides almost 12,500 homes across Lincolnshire, recently supported the Bishop King Centre on Grimsby’s Willows Estate by building a mobility scooter shelter as part of its commitment to Great Homes and Strong Communities.

Lincolnshire Co-op funded the shelter. It gives residents a dry, covered area to store their scooters when visiting the centre on a rainy day.

Dave Toyne (Handyperson) and John Bramhill (Pipefitter/Welder) from LHP spent a chilly winter’s afternoon building the shelter. When regular visitors to the Bishop King Centre’s weekly Chatterbox sessions arrived for their usual visit, they were pleasantly surprised.

“We’re over the moon and we’re very grateful to the LHP Team for building the shelter for us,” said Peggy

“Typically, it hasn’t rained much since it was installed,” added Sandra Booth, a regular at the centre.

“But we are looking forward to the wet weather for a change – just so we can test the shelter out!

Beth Johnson is Customer Engagement and Development Manager at LHP, she said: “We are proud to support local organisations and communities with projects like this.

“The Bishop King Centre is a long-standing community centre with several volunteers and visitors relying on scooters when coming to visit.

“Having somewhere dry to store their scooters will make visiting on a rainy day much easier.”

The next project for the centre is to make the entrance area safer, by levelling out paving slabs that have been moved by tree roots and installing external security lights to improve the safety of visitors leaving in the dark.

They are looking for willing volunteers that could help with this project, if you are able to support them, please contact Sandra Booth on 07856358559 or visit the Bishop King Centre.