ABOUT 250 ecstatic children at the Parkland School for Children with Intellectual Impairment in Beacon Bay applauded with enthusiasm when the principal, Penny Bartlett, cut the tape to a ramp to the school’s sport fields and exercise area on Friday.

The ramp was donated by members of the East London Golf Club (ELGC) and on hand were committee members Rob Taylor and Alan Hawkins, as well as the general manager Brenden Fourie and golf director, Gavin Wasserfall.

Other sponsors include Hemingways and Red Alert.

The ramp is approximately 75m long and leads down to an area where many of the children have difficulty in walking.

“The fields were only accessible to some – now everyone can get there easily.”

Hawkins explained that a decision was made at the ELGC some months ago to make the building of the ramp a priority as part of their ELGC Charity Cup Day when all proceeds from a golf tournament were set aside for a meaningful charity.

“Every member was involved,” Hawkins said, “and all income for the day went into the project. We wanted something meaningful and tangible and looking at all the happy faces, I think we have succeeded”.

He said that the ramp, which is made of paving bricks and which includes wooden poles for safety and an aluminium hand rail for the elderly and infirm, was completed within three weeks at a total cost of about R62 000.

Taylor was the man in charge of the project and used the services of Eugene Lotz of Mr Handiman.

Fourie was upbeat about the project.

“We’re very happy to get involved,” he said. “But really, what we’ve done is something so small when compared with what the staff here do daily for the children,” he said.

“If you think of mainstream education and its challenges, that’s nothing compared to the challenges these children have including physical challenges.” - By PETER MARTIN and photo by Alan Eason (Daily Dispatch)