David Weir has recently beaten his personal best record for traveling a mile in his wheelchair. David, a winner of 6 Paralympic gold medals, recorded a time of two minutes and 57 seconds in London, beating his previous best by six seconds !

"I've always said I could do it," said Weir, who has also won six World Championship gold medals in his career. I wanted to prove a point I was still up there with the best in the world."

He won immediate respect from the man himself, Sir Roger Bannister, who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954, congratulated Weir.

"I know that Dave's been on the edge of the three-minute mile for a while, so I send him all my congratulations for his huge achievement," the 87-year-old said.

Unless you actually see this amazing feat it is difficult to appreciate just how fast this is. With a wheelchair designed for speed David flew across the finish line with a very pleased look indeed.

Louis, a lad from Somerset has been told to miss school as he cannot use his electric wheelchair on the premises.

Louis who lives in Street has Hyper mobility Syndrome ( HMS) which causes him to feel fatigued much of every day, it also leaves him prone to broken bones and occasional dislocations.

He has been using his electric wheelchair to get about the school since PAril this year but is now being told that he cannot continue unless he provides a report from the occupational therapist stating that the wheelchair is absolutely needed. In the meanwhile he is being taught at home by his mother Grace.

His mum Grace said: "HMS is a genetic disorder that runs in my family, I have it as does my other nine year old child, it's a disability that isn't visible but is extremely painful and makes us prone to extreme fatigue"

"For the past three years he's been home schooled but he desperately wanted to go to secondary school. We spoke and had numerous meetings with the Blue School and they were positive they could support him

"I even asked if we should wait until September as by then we should hopefully have an occupational therapist (OT) report but they saidApril would be fine. I've now had to de-register Louis from school as we've been told by staff that without the OT report he can't have the wheel chair at school, but without the chair he can't cope

"We feel extremely let down as we had virtually every agency involved in the process of getting him back to school and it could have been brilliant for him, instead I'm going to have to have him tutored at home

"That seems to be the only way his disability won't affect his education."

Lets hope that Louis is able to get further assessmnet and receives the right advise about his use of the electric wheelchair at school. We wish him well.

See our range of electric wheelchairs here

Coming to Ipswich on June 25th is the Nitro Circus, a circus with a difference hence the name. Our interest is with Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham who continues to do some fairly amazing stunts in his wheelchair !

Having spent his life in a wheelchair since the age of just 7 hasn't stopped Aaron from doing much. This all started when his big brother encouraged him to drop into a quarter pipe ramp at his local skate park when he was just 8 years old. Since then his stunts have become more complex , more dangerous and more bizarre.

Using a tailor made wheelchair, Aaron is able to complete maneuvers including jumps, somersaults, loop the loops and more. He comments “For me, the wheelchair was never something that held me back. It was always a positive. I never really thought I can’t do something, I just had to do it a little different and find a way to make things work for me,”

Taking influence for his stunts from bmx tricks and skateboard tricks he has achieved some fantastic results in his wheelchair. “Being in a wheelchair, people always have this stereotype (in their minds) and try to set limits but it’s important to not let any of that hold you up or slow you down; keep moving towards your goals.” he says.

So how did he progress to the circus ? aged 18 he received an email from the circus manager asking him if he wanted to try their big ramp in his wheelchair ! “Before even thinking about how big that ramp was going to be I said ‘yeah’,” laughs Wheelz, the only person in the world to hit Nitro’s famous Giganta Ramp in a wheelchair. “I just went out and survived, so they were like ‘okay, you’re on the tour after just one jump’. That was awesome.” He has never looked back since.

In 2006 he achieved the world’s first back flip in a wheelchair. 4 years later he amazed the crowds in Woodward by doing the first double back flip. Invited to join Nitro Circus, he soon became a crowd favorite. In 2011, during their first tour of New Zealand, Wheelz landed the world’s first wheelchair frontflip in front of 17,500 screaming fans in Wellington.

“It’s pretty cool. It’s a good feeling to have some records I can look back at and think ‘oh wow. I’ve been able to accomplish all this’. It’s awesome,” he says, adding he couldn’t do what he does without Mike Box of Box Wheelchairs, who’s been building chairs for him since he was nine; describing him as pretty much like a second dad.

We don't recommend that you try any stunts in your wheelchair however if you are looking for a model that is sporty and more maneuverable than most why not consider the Quickie Argon2 Self Propelled Wheelchair from Sunrise Medical.

If you are planning a trip to Scotland this summer and want to get out on the water, there are fun trips to be had on the wheelchair-friendly boats sailing on River Dee !

The Quay Watermen’s Association’s ambitious plans to transform Connah’s Quay Docks into a popular attraction saw the launch of two wheelchair-accessible boats at the weekend which went very well.

The river has a rich history and the plan is to make all of this available in the form of a boat tour. The boats, designed by the Wheeleyboat Trust are providing mobility impaired people with access to waterborne activities.

Locals who attended the launch at the week end had this to say

"We were very pleased to have people in wheelchairs who normally don’t have a chance to get in the river and they were so excited.

“I also think the knock on effect for the local economy and for the image of Connah’s Quay is going to be positive.”

Honouring the area’s maritime heritage, the boats have been named ‘Kathleen’ and ‘May’ after the three-masted topsail schooner built in Connah’s Quay.

Starting with the Royal Stoke University hospital in Staffordshire, there is a plan to build wheelchair parks designed to help disabled patients come and go.

With a concept similar to using a shopping trolley at a supermarket, wheelchairs will be made available to visitors where they will deposit a sum when they collect the chair and then have it refunded when they return.

There are plans to roll this idea out to other NHS hospitals should the pilot scheme prove successful.

It seems like a good idea and will suit those who have a very temporary need for a chair during their visit.

If you have the need for a wheelchair for just a few weeks then you could consider buying one of our budget models such as the budget Esteem model

or if you prefer a transit why not consider this model.

Alternatively we offer a national hire service which can be ordered here