The SDSA received some negative feedback about the facilities at Central Park from Hibernian and Rangers supporters. Before a recent Cowdenbeath v Heart of Midlothian match, SDSA General Secretary Keith Ferguson visited the football ground to see for himself. Keith is pictured with Cowdenbeath director Tom Ewing who took on board the need to review facilities especially the area of away wheelchair users. However one major obstacle is that the football club no longer own the ground and rely on the support of the stock car promoters to make changes.

It was a great night for the Motherwell group at a recent SDSA meeting. John and Sharon McCaskie were presented with the Ross County Trophy for their outstanding support of the development of the SDSA. The picture on the right shows them being presented with the trophy by SDSA chairman Sandy Riach. This was followed up with a gift of audio commentary equipment thanks to generosity of the Rex Blind Parties. In the other picture from left to right is Jim Battison(Motherwell DSA chairman) , Billy Owen (Secretary Rex Blind Parties) and Sandy Riach again.

Although all of the work has not yet been completed here are some pictures to give you an idea of improvements made after the Commonwealth Games handed to stadium park to Hampden Park Ltd.

Below is a picture of the new PA seat with be used in the East, West and North Stand wheelchair sections.

The wheelchair areas in the East and West Stands have been reconfigured to ensure the PA seat is adjacent and the sightlines are improved. The pictures below hopefully provide an impression however apologies one is on the dark side.

Below is the view from the reconfigured areas plus the new installation at the east end of the North Stand

We will try and obtain pictures of the finished article in the East and West Stands

It’s early days however a project is underway to try and increase and  improve audio commentary services at Scottish football stadiums. The SDSA have joined forces with Access Audio and Rex Blind Parties and the first step was to enlist the support of RNIB Scotland who confirmed they were keen to support the project. Next step involved Billy (RBP), Douglas (AA) and Keith (SDSA) meeting at the recent Scottish Talking Newspaper Conference (picture taken at Access Audio display stand). Keith was also able to give a brief presentation to the audience on our hopes for the project. Watch this space for more news!