A lifeline charity at risk of closure has been given £61,000 to continue.
Allerdale Disability Association was set up in 1976 to provide help, support and social opportunities to people living with a wide range of disabilities across the west coast.
It provided vital free support, advice and information on issues ranging from blue badges to benefits for disabled people, their families and carers.
In the last financial year, it helped people claim benefit entitlements of £8.4 million. It had also seen a huge increase in client numbers, with an increase of 43% from the previous year to 1,908 users.
But in a statement on the charity’s website earlier this month said it would have to wind up as it faced financial difficulties.
However, it has now been thrown a lifeline of its own, thanks to Cumbria Community Foundation, Sellafield Ltd and Cumberland Council, to keep it running for the next 12 months.
Emergency funding has been granted for the charity.
Sellafield Ltd awarded a grant through the Social Impact Multiplied programme for £43,309.
Eirini Etoimou, head of corporate sustainability and supply chain development at Sellafield Ltd, said: “Through our Transforming West Cumbria programme, we aim to support third sector organisations that are delivering critical services in our local communities.
“Organisations such as ADA often need more than financial support to plan for a more sustainable future. Along with our strategic partners we will work with ADA to access skilled resource to strengthen their organisation through our volunteering platform Together for Good.”
Cumberland Council has given the charity a grant of £10,000.
Colin Cox, director of public health and communities, said: “We have put improving the health and wellbeing of residents at the heart of our ambitions. Working in partnership with organisations like ADA will be crucial in achieving that aim. Therefore, we’re pleased to continue to provide this financial support so that ADA can offer the help and assistance that many people find so valuable.”
The community foundation awarded £8,177 from the Brian and Ann Clark Fund. The association applied for the cash and told the foundation: “We know that the people in our community want our services to continue by the sheer number of people accessing them, and the sheer number of people who have contacted us to say they are devastated by the prospect we may have to close.”
Cumbria CVS, through the Transforming West Cumbria Bedrock Basics programme, will support the charity in applying to other funders for more longer-term funding to secure its financial sustainability.
Tracey Parker, manager at Allerdale Disability Association said: “We are absolutely over the moon that ADA has been saved for the benefit of our members and clients, and we are excited to work with our strategic partners, to learn from them and develop a plan for the future.”
Allerdale Disability Association was first formed following a public meeting about accessibility held in Workington where people came together to campaign for change.
The charity became registered in 1980 and in the years that followed it went on to distribute access guides and surveys to West Cumbrian towns, hold public meetings to highlight problems to councillors and architects and hosted awareness days and information sessions.
It then launched the Leisure Link project, linking a disabled person with a volunteer sharing similar interests or hobbies as well as the Access Awards scheme to encourage businesses to make their premises more accessible.
The charity and its volunteers also won several awards and was hailed a highly commended voluntary organisation by the Whitbread Volunteer Action Awards.
It also provided a talking newspaper after hearing the local talking newspaper team was to disband in 2004 and carried out an accessible landscaping project in the walled garden of the Curwen Centre.
Between 2004 and 2009, it also launched the joint funded Access Grants project with the Workington Regeneration and Neighbourhood Renewal Fund.
The project allowed voluntary groups and small businesses across Workington and Maryport to apply for grants of up to 85 per cent to improve their disability access from a £250,000 pot.
The charity carried out access audits to make sure the correct alterations were being made and all grant recipients had to attend disability awareness training provided by the ADA.
The project enabled 51 voluntary groups and small local businesses to receive grants to make improvements and 31 premises were given portable ramps. 126 people also took part in disability awareness training.
Working with the former Allerdale Borough Council and Parksafe, the charity also delivered a Shopmobility scheme in Workington’s multi-storey car park and the charity additionally became a hate crime reporting centre, working in partnership with Cumbria Constabulary.
Between 2010 and 2016, the charity joined the Neighbourhood Care Independence’ programme in Allerdale and Copeland to deliver a programme of activities, services and support for adults aged 18+ in local communities.
One of the charity’s early chairs, Stella Howarth, was also recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to disabled people and disability rights and awarded an MBE.
During this time the charity said it began facing funding struggles to keep the association running but it continued on and later moved into the former Moorclose Library in 2023.
