Concerned mum starts Facebook campaign
Saturday 5th March 2011, 11:21AM GMT.
A mother has spoken out over the axing of plans to put a cafe into a Shropshire leisure centre.
Lesley Hughes said her severely disabled son, Daniel McHugh Hughes, loved the pool at the current Oswestry Leisure Centre in Oswestry as did his younger brother, Aaron.
But she said she would not have spent so much time there if there had been no cafe.
She is so incensed that the new, multi-million pound centre will not have a cafe she has begun a campaign on Facebook.
Miss Hughes is urging people to write to Shropshire Council calling for the cafe to be reinstated and for its four staff to retain their jobs.
Daniel was just 10 when he died in 2007. He suffered from Patau Syndrome. His mother said: “He loved Oswestry Leisure Centre, as does Aaron, and we would often have a drink or something to eat in the cafe.
“It was a great way to meet other parents. Aaron has swimming lessons one day a week and then we rush to our home village, Penybont for an evening activity.
“Without the cafe where he can have a hot drink and something to eat, I don’t know how we can keep the two activities going.”
The Facebook page – entitled Save Oswestry Leisure Centre Cafe – now has 745 members with many people saying that without a cafe Oswald Park would not attract so many members.
Miss Hughes said that as well as signing up to the Facebook campaign and a petition, which now has almost 1,000 signatures, people should write individual letters to Shropshire Council.
The £9 million leisure centre is on schedule to open at the end of July. It will house a swimming pool and indoor sports hall, although plans for an all-weather pitch and a BMX track now also look unlikely to go ahead.
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You Andy are out of touch! Probably because you don’t get the chance to see disabled people in your environment, that’s because there are NO facilities.
I am disabled at 74 yrs old and use a Mobility scooter. Here in Brisbane Australia, (get your atlas out mate!) I take the train to the City for shopping and a pint every week.
There are many sorts of disabled people from children to War heroes that I see in our city. Even shops must have access to mobility scooters.
Every leisure site of this size should have a cafe. Not necessarily with four staff though.
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Having a cafe is a great idea what a fab way of finishing off the day. You dont want to go trudging somewhere else for a drink and a snack/meal. Shropshire Council want their heads read. Listen to the people not tot up the books!!!
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