OTLEY Sailing Club are cutting the ribbon to officially open new facilities at their Weston Water headquarters on Sunday (2pm).

They received a Sport England Inspired Facilities Grant of £37,883 last year but were also required to raise £10,000 themselves to help upgrade their clubhouse.

The club, which is a centre of excellence for the Royal Yachting Association’s Sailability scheme, run a programme for children, young people and adults with a wide range of disabilities and complex learning difficulties, and they aim to provide over 1,500 individual sailing experiences per year.

The scheme not only allows the participants to enjoy sailing but also improves their quality of life, and the grant has made possible new features, such as a wheelchair-accessible wet room, which includes a shower, toilet, changing bed and electrically-operated hoist.

There is also a new slope-free access path from the car park, so that wheelchairs can be brought to the clubhouse in safety, an anti-slip floor for the changing rooms and corridors, new doors for the outside of the main entrance, and new changing-room benches.

The club’s Sailability programme began as long ago as 1990, and volunteers were awarded the Queen’s Award for voluntary services in 2012 and the Duke of York’s Community Award in 2013.

The grant is part of the Olympic and Paralympic legacy programme, which is being delivered by Sport England, in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA), with the backing of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).