Injured former servicemen are helped to be mobile again

A GRASSROOTS charity which helps amputee servicemen to recover lost mobility drove one of its specially-converted vehicles into Tiverton last week to promote its work.

Project Mobility 4x4 was founded last year to help service personnel who had lost limbs while serving in Afghanistan.

Children at a Tiverton holiday club got a chance to look around one of the charity’s vehicles and find out how the project’s volunteers have so far adapted six Land Rovers for servicemen who have lost legs or arms in battle.

Hattie, one of the charity’s support vehicles, arrived at St John RC Primary School’s holiday club last Thursday and proved a hit with children.

Founder Sally Povolotsky said: “The kids got a chance to sit in the vehicle, see the expedition gear it carries and we took them for a short drive.

“Then they helped us design flyers for the project, and made a penny trail around the hall with donations to the project and all the children were given a supporter’s wristband at the end of the morning.”

Sally said: “Every penny we raise goes into the vehicles. We only convert Land Rovers because of their military connection and because you can go anywhere with them. We don’t see disability, we see ability. If someone wants to go to the sand dunes of Morocco, they can do that, if they want to drive up a mountain, they can do that.”

It can cost anywhere between £4,000-£15,000 to convert a vehicle for an amputee driver, but the charity keeps its overheads down by using second-hand parts and using volunteers to carry out the mechanical work.

The charity currently is fundraising for a dedicated garage which could offer courses for injured soldiers.

Sally said the charity was also planning an adventure trip to Exmoor in next month for around 30 amputees, enabling those the charity helps to do things they would have done previously and to have fun.

She said the charity had been founded to help Lance Corporal Ben Hilton from the Coldstream Guards who lost both his legs above the knee. She said: “It is very personal. Ben is a personal friend of ours. We don’t just give someone a vehicle and let them get on with things. The project is ongoing and about building relationships with all of the soldiers.

“The project doesn’t always work. Some people come for just a day and it isn’t for them, but lots of the soldiers get the Land Rover ‘bug’ and they want to get involved with volunteering for the project or going to events and meeting other Land Rover drivers.”

For more information visitwww.projectmobility4x4.org