We were delighted to welcome Paralympic athlete Danny Crates to open this year`s show. Danny toured the event and gave a very inspirational talk in the Seminar Theatre. On Friday 5th June we welcomed HRH The Duchess of Gloucester for a brief visit. The Duchess last visited the event in 1997 and was amazed and the pace of development in the mobility sector since that time.

Also visiting were Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson with first-time exhibitor Q Well Being, and Ade Adepitan with Invacare, plus Sharron Davies who presented the awards for the Roadshow`s annual Ready Willing & Mobile competition (see separate Gallery entry).

Tender Loving Bear is an Outright Winner

Caitlin and Olivia Brough, 11 year old twins from Marden Bridge Middle School in Whitley Bay were announced national winners of a competition to help young disabled people.

The announcement was made at the annual Mobility Roadshow this year held at Kemble Airfield near Cirencester. The annual Ready Willing & Mobile competition, organised by Mobility Choice, the charity behind the Roadshow, seeks bright ideas from 7 to 16 year olds in schools and clubs: ideas that will help disabled children be more independent.

The twins` joint entry, Tender Loving Bear, had already won the 7 to 11 age category. Tender Loving Bear has a host of inbuilt features to entertain, amuse and create a calm friendly atmosphere that will encourage young vulnerable or disabled children to talk openly by sharing their feelings with the teddy.

“It is amazing to win. We had a fantastic day and it was great to meet Sharron Davies. We had lots of fun,” said the twins.

The caring twins received their award from celebrity swimmer Sharron Davies and bagged a £1,000 cheque and STAEDTLER stationery and art materials worth £250 for their school, a digital camera each, £100 worth of HarperCollins books of their choice to share, a weekend break for four in London, courtesy of International Hotels Group, and a trip on the London Eye as well as the VIP visit to the Mobility Roadshow.

The overall runner-up was Daniel Barnes aged 12, a student at King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, whose bright idea was Watch Aid, an alert and voice response system designed to assist deaf people.

This year, aiming to encourage young disabled artists, the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists (MFPA) sponsored a special award for the best entry by a young person with a disability. This was won by 15 year old Stuart Tredree a student at Northgate High School in Ipswich. Stuart devised Solar Charger, a sun charger for electric wheelchairs that utilises solar panels. A full-time wheelchair user, Stuart conceived the idea after his battery “went down to two bars” one sunny day.

Tom Yendell of MFPA presented Stuart with his prize of £1,000 art and craft materials for his school and £250 of art and craft materials for himself.

Jacqui Jones, Executive Director of Mobility Choice, the charity that organises the Mobility Roadshow said: “In this fifth year of the competition we received many more entries and a wider range of ideas that encompassed a greater number of disabilities - clear evidence that young people are thinking about inclusion.”

The Ready Willing & Mobile competition has been widely applauded by teachers as an ideal project for team building and classroom discussion. For many it has become an annual event in the school calendar, with several schools putting entries forward as a result of class projects.

Ready Willing & Mobile 2010 will be announced in early in the New Year with full details at www.mobilityroadshow.co.uk