PARALYMPIC legend Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has cheered a gold rush campaign for a disability sports group.
Billingham-based Nicholson’s Transport has been donating £10 for every gold medal won by Team GB at the Paralympics to the Durham Area Disability Leisure Group (DADLG).
And Baroness Grey-Thompson – who is patron of DADLG – was delighted to have supported the initiative.
She said: “For the past 14 years, DADLG has provided sport and leisure activities for young disabled people in the area.
“I was so pleased to see Nicholson’s Transport supporting the group.
“In this special year, we are all looking for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to leave a lasting legacy.
“DADLG can play a big part in this and spread the word that sport and fitness are so important if we want to promote healthy living.”
DADLG provides sports and leisure opportunities for up to 300 young people and their families with activities including quad biking, taekwondo, football, trampoline, cycling, sailing and climbing.
Its members are young people aged between eight and 25, with physical, learning, sensory and multiple disabilities, who without the support of DADLG would find it difficult to access regular sports opportunities.
Nicholson’s Transport, which is based in Billingham, decided to launch its gold medal pledge after realising its own silver anniversary coincided with the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London.
Following the end of the Paralympics, the appeal was well on its way to smashing its £2,000 target after several North-East businesses and individuals matched Nicholson’s pledge.
They include Casper Shipping, Driver Hire Nationwide, Seaton Carew Sports Domes and packaging company RPS.
David Nicholson, managing director of Nicholson’s Transport, said: “We have been great admirers and supporters of DADLG for many years because they raise the hopes and aspirations of the young people they work with.”