Who We Are
Lorna Bond is a full-time wheelchair user who met Sue Lines, manager of the Tanyard Youth Project, when she knocked on the door of the Tanyard one day in April 2019. She and two others were supposed to be meeting in the library, but it was shut. As Sue was alone in the Tanyard, she invited them in to have their meeting there, made them a drink and joined in with their conversation about disability access issues, the lack of comprehensive information in one place and the lack of social facilities for disabled people.
At the end of the meeting it was clear that Lorna had the determination to change things. Sue suggested that she set up a peer support group at the Tanyard and said that she would help her to get her ideas off the ground.
Lorna signed up as a volunteer at the Tanyard and over the next few months she and Sue did a lot of planning. They reached out to a number of organisations and individuals and decided to call the group BESPOKE to reflect the individuality of each of the wheelchair users and other people with mobility problems that they wanted to help.
The group started to form and on 20th August 2019 there was a formal launch event attended by local people with a variety of disabilities and a range of organisations: Radio Pembrokeshire, PAVS Community Connectors, PCC Learning Disabilities, VC Gallery, PCC Disability Employment Advice, Snowdrop Independent Living, the Red Cross, Pembrokeshire Community Transport, PCC Disability Sport, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock Boxing Club, Pembrokeshire Online, Planed and the Cleddau River Day Unit.
And so BESPOKE was underway! And the launch event raised £118 to start the group properly with a banner and ‘business cards’.
Lorna herself is a full-time wheelchair user. She has undergone various spinal surgeries over the last twenty-seven years. While she was recovering at Rookwood spinal cord injury unit, she recognised the desperate need for a group to support people with mobility challenges like her own. She could see how very socially isolating disability can be and how it can lead to mental health issues. She was determined to do something to change that.
Sue is a woman that I admire very much. Not only does she work tremendously hard for BESPOKE, but she is a woman who wears many hats in her role as manager at the Tanyard. Sue has helped me to establish BESPOKE, to launch it and to raise funds and equipment for the group. Sue is such a warm-hearted woman who does everything she can to support me and my goals for the group and its members.
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- Lorna Bond
So, as a result of a chance encounter between Sue and Lorna, who were strangers before, BESPOKE was formed. The group provides much needed support, information, social events and fun to a range of people who otherwise have limited resources available to them.
BESPOKE has a regular membership and we know that the group will continue to grow as more people hear about what Lorna is doing. The empathy and support between members has established and grown with amazing speed.
Even in the times of Covid-19, the group has remained in touch. Lorna is a ray of light and hope amongst a community of socially isolated people, who very often become depressed as a result of being cut off from the world outside. It is far less their disability that makes them depressed, it is the lack of support and social interaction.
So, Lorna has improved her own life through her own determination to succeed and has created something really positive for others in her situation. Not only has she set up the group, but she has gathered all sorts of information that she can make available to others in a ‘one-stop-shop’ information pack and she has been there to provide one to one support when members have approached her for help.
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In March of 2019 Lorna Bond met her local Community Connector Mia Gillies. Lorna explained to Mia what she would like to see in the community for people with reduced mobility. Mia was able to print out some posters and between the pair they distributed them all over South Pembrokeshire. In April 2019 Mia wanted to introduce Lorna to Pembrokeshire County Council’s Access officer, so arranged a meeting at the local library. Unfortunately. the library was shut so Mia suggested The Tanyard Youth project on the same road as she had seen a light on whilst parking. The manager Sue Lines was very welcoming and joined in the ensuing conversation. The rest is as they say history😊
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Lorna is truly inspirational to me. She works hard, juggles family commitments and is determined to support other people. She continues to smile, even when her wheelchair battery runs out halfway up the road. She is a true role model for all of us. When she’s feeling down, she does something about it. When others are feeling down she is there for them. Lorna is a firm believer that having fun can fix a lot of problems in life, and she’s not wrong. This group is bringing fun, laughter and emotional support to people who richly deserve it, not least Lorna herself.
- Sue Lines