Martin makes his match

Date Published: 14-May-2009

MOST of us take for granted the simple everyday things in life – we don’t think twice about ordinary activities like going to church on a Sunday or going to watch the parish football team lining out on a
Saturday evening at the local sports pitch.
But for Maree man Martin Forde, who has been wheelchair- bound all of his life, the so called simple things have been a cause of frustration.
When a service was on at the new church in Maree, people parked their cars at the gate entrance on the grounds, which caused access problems for Martin who was then effectively blocked out of
church.
The local community sports pitch had access problems, too. Martin could never get parking close enough to the entrance of the pitch and when he did, he found it difficult to navigate his power
wheelchair through the narrow the gate, which was not designed with wheelchair users in mind.
Martin is an avid sports fan but simple access problems were depriving him of his passion until recently when young members of Maree Foróige Club came together to put in place simple initiative that eliminated the access problems for Martin and David Tarpey, another local wheelchair user.