GLASGOW AIRPORT FLIGHTPATH FUND PUTS LOCAL CHARITY IN THE DRIVING SEAT
Go-karting sessions for young people with additional support needs and learning difficulties will commence later this year after Glasgow Airport agreed to fund the cost of four tandem karts.
The charity Kibble is currently creating a major new leisure facility to provide transitional jobs and training opportunities. Glasgow Airport is supporting the venture with an award of nearly £40,000 from its FlightPath Fund.
‘The Experience’ is being constructed inside the iconic former Rolls Royce factory in Hillington Park and will boast Scotland’s first indoor electric go-karting track.
Kibble hopes it will also become a major leisure, training and events centre which will create 50 transitional jobs and 50 work experience placements for young people aged between 16 and 24 every year.
Kibble intends to dedicate 20 hours every week to ‘Karting with a Conscience’, a social inclusion programme for those with additional support needs or learning difficulties who are unable to drive a go-kart themselves. This programme requires the use of tandem go-karts, which will be funded by the airport.
A support worker will manage and promote Karting with a Conscience, working with schools and other organisations such as charities to encourage them to use the facility on a regular basis.
The Experience will also offer other leisure and catering facilities and Kibble is hopeful it will become a sustainable social enterprise, with employment placements providing young people with the skills, experience and confidence they need to shape their own destiny.
Archie Hunter, chair of the Glasgow Airport FlightPath Fund, said: “The funding application we received from Kibble was one which really stood out. We were impressed by the ambition shown in constructing The Experience from what was effectively an empty shell, and the determination to make it an inclusive facility that can be enjoyed by all and will prove to be sustainable in the long term.
“In addition to the benefits it will bring for many in the communities under the flightpath, we are very keen to support innovative projects that help people towards employment. The Experience offers fantastic volunteering and employment placement opportunities for Kibble service users and other young people.”
Graham Bell, Kibble chief executive, added: “Our Karting with a Conscience programme offers social inclusion to children and adults with additional support needs and learning difficulties who would otherwise be unable to experience the thrill of go-karting.
“The sessions will be a really memorable experience and our friendly helpful staff will ensure the highest standards of health and safety at all times. The tandem go-karts are a very specialist piece of equipment and Glasgow Airport has done the communities around it a great service by supporting the purchase of these through the FlightPath Fund.”
Courtesy of Glasgow Airport.