Our magnificent village hall dates from way beyond accessibility rights but the committee have endeavoured to do everything possible to make it as accessible as we can.
We used to have a wheelchair lift, which was especially designed to go up the rounded staircase but alas it failed more than it worked. So we looked into the possibility of a new lift but we are unable to get around the Ancient Monuments problem as there are beams in the way in one direction and the medieval paintings in the way on the opposite wall, etc, etc.
Therefore we successfully achieved grant aid from The Hadfield Trust, Disabled Access, Cumbria Community Foundation, Carlisle Parish Council along with many fundraising events by groups and individuals to have a stair lift installed in the Autumn of 2015.
This is much more like a domestic model but designed to travel up a curved staircase and it is easy to operate. An individual needs to be able to leave their wheelchair and sit on the chair, which is operated by a simple hand switch or can be operated remotely to get you up or down the stairs. If your own chair isn’t of the type to be easily folded and carried up the stairs by someone else then we have a manual chair at the top for you to borrow whilst you are in the hall.
We hope this will be of help to many of our mobility impaired visitors but alas are aware that it will not suit all for which we hope you will be understanding and rest assured that we are always on the lookout for other possibilities to make the hall more accessible to everyone.
A User Guide is provided to help you through the use of the chair on the wall at the side of the lift. Along with 2 remotes, one upstairs, one downstairs for calling the chair remotely.
The lift is easy to operate and open whenever the hall itself is open for you to use but we understand that sometimes you need that bit of extra support to help you use equipment etc. If you would like to arrange a committee member to be there to help you with the use of the stairlift, please contact Fiona Gosling on 01697741829 and we will try to arrange for a volunteer to be there to help you with your visit.
Dacre Hall 