Worthing carpenter's unique bench design for disabled people becomes national success

World of Benches was launched after Joe Colwell spotted a young wheelchair user awkwardly positioned at the end of a bench while he was celebrating his fiftieth birthday at a park.

“They didn’t look comfortable and they weren’t part of the group,” he said, and so his idea for a specially designed bench catering for both able bodied people and wheelchair users was born.

Five years later and Mr Colwell’s benches can be seen in every park in Worthing as well as many parks across the country.

“They’ve been incredibly popular,” he said.

“It’s been a very interesting journey, I’ve met some amazing people and been to some fantastic places.”

The company won the start up of the year award at the Adur and Worthing Business Awards 2015 – but Mr Colwell said the biggest reward was seeing wheelchair users making use of the benches.

“It’s lovely to see people in wheelchairs enjoying themselves,” he said. “It’s absolutely brilliant.”

Looking forward, Mr Colwell is expanding his range by developing a new, circular bench.

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