How We Are Creating a More Accessible Calderdale

It was lovely to welcome so many familiar faces, and plenty of new ones, to our September CFFC Membership Event, held at The Space @Field Lane in Rastrick. If you haven’t been before, it’s a cosy welcoming community venue with great facilities and the catering is second to none, they put on an incredible buffet that certainly went down well. You can find out more about the space here.

The room was packed with people from across Calderdale, donors, members, businesses, charities, not-for-profit organisations, and representatives from ACDAF (Accessible Calderdale Disability Access Forum). What united everyone was a shared belief that together, we can make Calderdale a better, fairer, and more inclusive place to live.

Chair of the Board of CFFC, Nigel Cliffe welcomed everyone and set the scene for the event and was followed by Rob Billson who introduced the purpose of the Access Fund and set the context of the evaluation. Rob is our Grants Manager who has been working on this project with patience and care, encouraging collaboration along the way. Thank you for sharing your insight on how we manage Funds that truly make a difference to peoples’ lives.

CFFC commissioned the Calderdale Access Fund Evaluation, and we were pleased to hear from Rachel Vernelle and Alice Wallace, who shared how they carried out the evaluation and what they discovered. Their findings gave us real insight into the progress being made and the challenges still faced when it comes to accessibility in our borough.

Accessibility isn’t a tick box or a nice to have. It’s about people’s lives, dignity, and independence and it doesn’t have to cost a lot or take much effort to make places inclusive. This message was powerfully brought to life by Katie Clarke from Visits Unlimited. Katie is also a mum to an adult wheelchair user, and she spoke movingly about the realities of navigating spaces that aren’t always inclusive.

Katie went on to facilitate a panel session with Aisha Mir and Paul Manchip, who both shared their lived experiences and highlighted how ACDAF’s work has helped to make real, positive changes here in Calderdale. Their stories were moving and inspired people in the room.

One recurring theme was the importance of Changing Places toilets. These specialist facilities provide the right space and equipment such as a ceiling hoist, a peninsular toilet, and a changing bench. For more information, visit Changing Places.

We asked everyone in the room to consider: “What will you do to take the work and the message of Accessible Calderdale forward?”

The responses were inspiring. Here are just some of the ideas that came out of the session:

• Speak up more about accessibility in our communities and businesses
• Use social media to spread the message
• Invite people with lived experience of disability to share their stories at events and in workplaces
• Ensure CFFC builds the voices of ACDAF and similar groups into new programmes and policies
• Create more opportunities for people with different disabilities to sit on boards, panels, and committees
• Allocate funding towards improving accessibility and supporting lived voices
• Share ACDAF’s updates and campaigns through our social media (Facebook, X)
• Extend accessibility audits to more organisations and spaces
• Highlight the fantastic accessible activities already happening locally, like circus skills, sports sessions, and trips
• Work with CVAC to use a “Community Journalist” approach to spread stories more widely

This event showed just how much care and commitment there is in Calderdale when it comes to making sure everyone feels welcome and included. We may be biased, but it was one of our most engaging sessions yet and another example of how CFFC connects people who care with causes that matter.