Dunelm Phab Club
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About the club
The Dunelm Phab club is based at Aykley Heads, Durham City and is registered with the Charities Commission (Registered Charity Number 1039295).
Phab clubs work on the social model of disability which looks at the person and not the disability.
The purpose of the club was initially to integrate physically disabled people into the wider community. Nowadays, by the time people with disabilities reach adulthood, a majority of them have already been integrated into society. Our role as a club still has the original aim but the purpose of the club has shifted slightly to providing a social outlet in a safe environment where able bodied people and people with all manner of disabilities can join a group and enjoy many different activities.
For some families who care for their disabled member at home, we do offer them a couple of hours of respite though this is not our prime aim. Everyone comes voluntarily and the able bodied members are not trained carers. It is merely a social club for people with disabilities. |
History of the club
The club was set up in May 1991 by Paula Bradley. The reason the club was set up was to give people who were on the waiting list for Abbey Phab club (the only Phab club in Durham City at the time) an opportunity to go to a Phab club without having to wait months for a place to become available. The Dunelm Phab club started with only around 12 members. Paula advertised for able-bodied members to help with the running of the club to which a few came forward and some have stayed in excess of 10 years.
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What do we do?
The club is based in the Durham Centre in Aykley Heads, Durham. We meet on a Monday night though we do not run on bank holidays or throughout the summer. Each member pays a subscription (sub) of £1.00 if they make their own way to the centre or £1.50 if they make use of the social services bus provided by the club. The subs are altered accordingly if we are having an expensive activity.
The club provides a tuck shop that sells hot and cold drinks, crisps and sweets at the retail price and is a small source of profit for the club funds.
There are numerous activities that the club enjoys. A list of some of the past activities is seen below
~Bar meals
~Discos
~Craft nights
~Quizzes
~Singers
~Trips to the seaside
~Bowling
~Fireworks displays
The club tries to have breaks away every year whether they are for a day or for a weekend. These trips are only able to take place with the help of external funding as they are very expensive. An example of some of the trips we’ve enjoyed are listed below
~Low Mill, Askrigg (Outdoor pursuits centre)
~Edinburgh
~Borwick Hall, Lancashire
~Kielder Water
~Tees River cruise
~Flamingoland
~Butlins, Ayr
~London
~Theatre trips
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Who goes?
There are 34 members who attend the club regularly (22 disabled and 12 able-bodied). The group encompasses all manner of disabilities e.g. cerebral palsy, epilepsy, downes syndrome etc. It is a very mixed group but the club maintains a good balance so that all the attention is shared amongst the whole club rather than on one individual.
The club has the use of a heavily subsidized social services bus to pick up members who live within the catchment area (West of Durham City) who can’t make their own way to the centre. This is part of our service provider pack from social services. We receive no financial help but we have free use of disabled friendly premises and subsidized transport on club nights. |
The Phab logo
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The Phab Aim
"To promote and encourage people with and without physical disabilities to come together on equal terms, to achieve complete integration within the wider community" |
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