SWINDON’S wheelchair sport teams are receiving a boost from the Wooden Spoon charity with the two teams awarded 10 new sports wheelchairs.

The two clubs, tag wheelchair rugby league side, Swindon St George Wheelchair, and Swindon Shock, the wheelchair basketball team, will now be able to offer increased numbers the opportunity to play their respective sports.

Wooden Spoon have paid the majority of the £10,000 cost for the new chairs, with clubs raising the remaining money.

To celebrate the award St George will be staging a special friendly wheelchair rugby match against a select Wooden Spoon celebrity team on Sunday, July 12 at Isambard Community Sports Hall.

Ben Humphrey. who co-ordinates the basketball teams said: “The superb gesture will equip our disabled athletes for the next decade and also provided us with the resources to inspire the next generation of Paralympic athletes.”

Tony Ellis, chairman of Swindon St George was really pleased with the expansion potential the new chairs give his club.

“It just means we can do bigger sessions and grow both clubs. Where we’ve been having that many people turning up for junior and development sessions we’ve been running out of chairs. Now we have 10 new chairs in a spectrum of sizes, it means we can deliver to more people of different shapes and sizes at the same time.”

The award is within the key objectives of Wooden Spoon to help mentally, physically and disadvantaged children in the county. It is the eighth project in Wiltshire funded by Wooden Spoon in the past three years to help young people enjoy a more fulfilling lifestyle.