A FUN and friendly group is celebrating after news that their weekly sports and fitness session at Cantley Park can continue.
The group of around 20 boccia players have been meeting every week in the Ashridge Room at the sports park off Twyford Road for five years.
Boccia, a Paralympic sport, is similar to bowls but with seated players propelling soft weighted balls as close as possible to a target ball.
Last month the players were informed that their Active Ageing boccia sessions, run by Wokingham Borough Council’s (WBC) Prevention Team, would be ending.
They reached out for help to Wokingham.Today, Wokingham Borough Council, and to MP Clive Jones, and with support from WBC officers a solution has been found to enable the games to continue.
From May, sessions will return, led by Age UK Berkshire.
Fiona Price, CEO of Age UK Berkshire, told Wokingham Today: “We very much look forward to meeting the members, and to welcoming them back to enjoying boccia and having fun.”
MP Clive Jones told Wokingham Today: “I was contacted by the group who said they had been told their provision to play boccia at Cantley, which is funded by a public health grant, was coming to an end.
“It’s very clear how important it is for older people to have opportunities to stay active.
“There are clear health benefits and enormous social benefits as well when this happens.
“I spoke with Cllr Mark Ashwell, the executive member for sport and leisure, to see what action could be taken, and I am very glad to hear that the council have been able to arrange with Age UK for them to continue the running of the Boccia sessions.
“This is a great example of the council working with me and my office, and listening to our community, to make a positive difference.”
Cllr Ashwell said: “We recognise how important physical activity is for people, at every age, and we want people who are not active, to get the opportunity to start their physical activity journey.
“The boccia sessions have been valued by those who have attended them, and I am thrilled that our officers have found partners who will enable them to continue.”
Last week, Wokingham.Today joined the group for what they then believed might be their last session.
Boccia enables all the players, including those with limited mobility, to participate fully.
The Cantley group enjoys the competition and exercise it offers.
Regular player Lesley Dunn said: “There’s a real buzz in the room.
“You can see that everyone loves boccia, and this is such a great community.
“Many of us live on our own, and some are recently bereaved.
“But there’s real friendship here, so to have lost the group would have been terrible.”
Now that Lesley has been given the welcome news that Cantley boccia sessions will continue, she is delighted.
“What a relief! Hooray! Cheers!” she said.
“Thank you so much to everyone for pulling together to save our sport: to Clive Jones’s team, to Jayne Streak from the Link, to Age UK Berkshire, to Wokingham.Today, and to Wokingham Borough Council’s Prevention Team – all of you have helped to make our request to keep playing at Cantley a reality.”
Another player, Jan, 83 years young, has been coming for five years.
“Since I lost my husband, who also loved the game, the group has been a lifeline for me,” she explained.
“It has helped me enormously, and I would have mourned it if it had ended.
“Cantley’s perfect, so we desperately didn’t want to go anywhere else.
“It’s conveniently located, has disabled parking, a lift that can take a wheelchair, and a room big enough to play boccia in.
“And there’s the cafe for coffee or lunch together.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for Wokingham borough Council told Wokingham Today: “With many people not being physically active across the borough we want to support as many as possible to become physically active.
“We have been working with our local partners, including Age UK Berkshire, who provide support and services to ensure older people age well, to deliver boccia sessions moving forwards.
“The ambition is to start running the sessions from May 2025 in the Ashridge Room at Cantley Park, with the future sessions being managed by Age UK Berkshire.”
There will be jubilation in May.
“On our first session back, when we all meet up again, we’ll give everyone who has helped us a big cheer,” said Lesley.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
