A CHARITY will soon be helping disabled people enjoy Southend seafront, thanks to a £4,400 grant from the Echo.

The Gannett Foundation, run by the Echo’s parent company Gannett, has donated the cash to the Tram Stop Shelter charity for beach matting.

The donation forms part of an ambitious scheme to renovate the old tram stop shelter in Thorpe Bay, creating wheelchair access for the disabled.

Bob Craven, chairman of the charity, thanked the Echo for the donation and said it would make a huge difference to disabled people in the town, as well as visitors.

He said: “It is wonderful news and we are so pleased, it will make a lot of people happy.

“We surveyed the disabled access points to the beach from Shoebury to Leigh and they are not fit for purpose.

“The money means we can buy matting to allow wheelchairs on to the beach and then hopefully for people to go down into the water as well.

“We will start at the slip way by the Tram Stop, in Eastern Esplanade, but what we want to do is to have access points all along the seafront where wheelchairs can go on to the beach using the matting the Echo has kindly provided the funding for.

“We have a lady with multiple sclerosis who has lost the use of her legs and she loves to swim, she says that when she is in the water she has got her legs back.

“The money that Gannett has given us will allow her to swim at the beach and that is just wonderful.”

The Echo is owned by Gannett, whose foundation has handed out a total of £250,000 to good causes around the country this Christmas. The Tram Stop charity, which was set up to bring the dilapidated old building in Eastern Esplanade back to use, applied to the foundation for a grant and was chosen from the entries.

The building, built along the former tram system which ran from Southend to Thorpe Bay, will include toilets and changing facilities.

Chris Hatton, Echo editor, said: “The Tram Stop Shelter is such a worthy cause and we are delighted to support their work.

“Their efforts so far in trying to make the Tram Stop a community facility for those with disability are to be applauded.

“We hope this grant will help in their longterm goal to make numerous beach access points for those in wheelchairs, helping to change the lives of disabled people and their enjoyment of Southend’s fabulous seafront.”