Protecting the Ordinary Freedom of the Beach

Words from Angela Robinson, Health & Wellbeing Officer – Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority 

On a good day, the work happens almost invisibly. A family arrives in Saundersfoot, borrows a specially designed beach wheelchair, and someone who could not cross the soft sand is suddenly part of the beach again. They are not doing anything dramatic. They are doing what everyone else is doing: sitting by the sea, joining the conversation, watching children paddle, feeling the wind, and being in the photograph instead of waiting beyond the sand. 

That is the kind of moment I think about whenever I check bookings, talk to host sites, or arrange equipment for the Outdoor Mobility Scheme. My job is to help make the Pembrokeshire Coast physically possible for more people, using beach wheelchairs, all-terrain equipment, ramps, hoists, trackways, and other practical support. It is detailed, practical work, but its purpose is simple: helping people reach places and experiences that might otherwise be closed to them. 

So the news that our beach wheelchair at Saundersfoot had been vandalised was upsetting in a way that went far beyond the repair bill. Two specialist tyres and an arm were taken, causing around £600 worth of damage. The tyres were later found washed up a few miles down the coast. 

The detail about the tyre stayed with me. It was such a small, ugly image beside the scale of what the chair is there to do. People do not book this equipment because they want anything unusual. They book it because they want to be on the beach with their family. Sometimes that means a first paddle in twenty years. Sometimes it means one last afternoon beside the sea for someone receiving end-of-life care. In those circumstances, a missing tyre is not a nuisance. It can stand between a family and a day they will never have the chance to repeat.

That is the reality behind a service that can sound, on paper, fairly technical. We talk about beach wheelchairs, all-terrain equipment, trackways, hoists, ramps, and hearing loops, but each one exists because a particular barrier has stopped someone taking part. It might be soft sand, uneven ground, or a transfer that cannot be made safely. Without this support, someone is left missing from the middle of a family walk, a beach day, or a group activity. The equipment is practical, but its purpose is deeply human. 

Keeping that purpose alive is not something I do alone. The scheme started 20 years ago through the fundraising of local community groups and has since been supported by Welsh Government and business donations. What has made it grow in recent years is the support around it: cafés and activity centres willing to host equipment, local businesses that help look after chairs between bookings, and members of the public who donate money or mobility aids, often in memory of someone who loved the coast. 

That support became very visible after the vandalism. The Pembrokeshire Coast Charitable Trust launched a fundraising appeal, giving people a way to help repair the Saundersfoot chair and support the wider scheme. The £600 will repair one chair, but the wider appeal is about making sure the whole scheme is stronger than it was before the damage happened. Some equipment is wearing out, and some busy sites need better storage. In this work, those details are never just details. A chair in good condition, kept safely and available in the right place, can decide whether a family day on the beach happens at all. 

That is why the response to one damaged chair matters beyond Saundersfoot. 

For many of us, the beach asks very little. We walk onto it without having to explain ourselves, plan around barriers, or wonder whether we will be able to join everyone else. That is the ordinary freedom this scheme tries to protect. The appeal remains open for anyone who would like to help keep that possible, with donations managed through the Pembrokeshire Coast Charitable Trust’s JustGiving page at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/pembrokeshirebeachwheelchairs.