Walford Mill Crafts is looking forward to welcoming its visitors in their newly refurbished craft shop area with its new look!

Walford Mill was given the opportunity to bring arts and communities even closer together with the help of the award of £100,000 by the Arts Council. The award was used towards the installation of a lift and a ramp to achieve the aim to enhance the Centre and to improve its facilities to make all the visits to the Mill equally accessible for everyone.

The shop renovation work is now completed and the whole craftshop is fully accessible by everyone regardless of age and abilitiy. Creative business and a healthy cultural life are key to sustainable communities and these improvements at the Mill will allow visits especially by people with disabilities and families with pushchairs to be more independent and more enjoyable.

Before the renovation work started, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, who are regular visitors to the Mill said, "There is a very limited access at the moment for wheelchair users. We visit the Mill regularly but we can only see the gallery comfortably. It is very difficult to get around in the other parts of the Mill and this gets very frustrating. The new construction is going to allow us the opportunity to visit all areas of the shop using our wheelchair."

Since the lift and the ramp have been installed, the visitors with disabilities have enjoyed the freedom of being able to get around the craft shop without any difficulties. Walford Mill is proud to be able to offer its visitors the access to the all areas of the shop.

Walford Mill Crafts would like to say a big thank you to the Arts Council for supporting this project which will be benefiting a wider community. Also a big thank you to Adapt Trust for their support of £500 towards the lift.