A £20,000 grant given to the University of Worcester is set to benefit wheelchair basketball throughout the county, including in Evesham and Pershore.

The funds from the Sports Partnership Herefordshire and Worcestershire have seen the university purchase 20 adaptive wheelchairs and a trailer to transport them. It will be used in schools throughout the county to give both able and disabled children a taste of wheelchair basketball.

The university was awarded the funding from the ‘Aiming High for Disabled Children’ programme, a national government initiative for disabled children administered by Worcestershire County Council.

The partnership, which sources and distributes funding locally from central government, co-ordinated the university’s application for the grant, part of its aim for sporting accessibility for all in the two counties.

Glyn Harding, senior lecturer for sport coaching science at the University of Worcester, said: “Our aim is to develop four wheelchair basketball centres in Worcester, Bromsgrove, Evesham or Pershore and Hereford. “Supported by these newly-qualified coaches, we are confident that disabled children will have a bright sporting future ahead of them.”