Tewkesbury Access Forum (TAF) was established with a clear goal: to help make Tewkesbury more accessible by raising awareness of the everyday challenges people with lived experience face when getting around the town centre.
TAF continues to build momentum as membership grows. The Roses Theatre kindly offered the use of its venue for meetings, and meetings are also held at Tewkesbury Borough Council offices, helping us stay connected with local partners and the wider community.
TAF made useful connections with GRCC (project-details | GRCC)
Through the DAISI Project, TAF received training on using social media effectively, along with helpful support and guidance on Governance from GRCC’s Community Development Service.
The Funding Fair held at Tewkesbury Borough Council created further opportunities to build relationships, including with Gloucestershire VCSE Alliance (Supporting Gloucestershire’s VCSE sector to thrive), who supported TAF with the financial processes needed to promote our work locally.
A particular highlight was taking part in the first This is Tewkesbury
Community Day, held at Tewkesbury Abbey. The event was a vibrant
celebration of local community groups and gave us a valuable
opportunity to talk with residents and visitors about positive access
points in Tewkesbury, as well as our plans to create an accessible map of the town centre.
We were very grateful to receive donations from Disabled Care & Mobility, Pinetree Builders, Chillway, and several anonymous
supporters.
This helped towards costs of materials for our stand. One of the highlights of the day was the news of funding from the Gloucestershire County Council Grassroots Neighbourhood Funding.
Councillors and representatives from relevant organisations took part in a walk around the centre of Tewkesbury, including Riverside Walk.
Auto Spares kindly allowed us to use three of their mobility scooters, helping the group understand the everyday challenges that people with lived experience can face when moving comfortably around the town.
We were also assisted by the Sight Loss Council, who joined us to share SimuSpecs so that participants could better understand the access challenges experienced by people with sight loss.
The walk offered a practical opportunity to see how uneven pavements, inadequate dropped kerbs and other access barriers can affect people’s confidence, independence and ability to move around Tewkesbury safely.
Ongoing work:
Partnership with Cheltenham Access Forum:
Collaboration has been central to our progress. TAF regularly attends meetings held by Cheltenham Access Forum, creating valuable opportunities to share news about events, as well as ideas, experience, and practical knowledge.
Building relationships with business owners:
TAF continues to build relationships with Tewkesbury business owners, helping them to understand how improving access to their venues can benefit the business and the disabled customer. We believe that change can be achieved by raising awareness and sharing knowledge.
Guest speakers at meetings
In May 2026 we started inviting speakers to our meetings. Our first
guest was Neil Withnell (Specialist Housing Occupational Therapist),
followed in July by George Legg (Millar Howard Workshop) on Trinity
Hall and listed buildings.
We are looking forward to having Keith Sexton (Access Social Care) in September, and Beth Andrews (Tewkesbury Nature Reserve) in November.