Why is wheelchair curling 'like chess on ice'?

Fresh from the sport's popularity during the Winter Olympics, Preston Wheelchair Curling Club hopes a cash grant will help it to attract new members.

The club said the £1,500 boost from Lancashire County Council would pay for free "taster sessions" as well as buy new equipment and clothing.

"I call curling 'chess on ice' because it's not the shot that you play - you've got to think three or four shots ahead," the club's chairman Paul Simmons told BBC Radio Lancashire.

The county council funding was given by the local authority's champion for disabled people, Gaynor Hargreaves.

Wheelchair curlers deliver their stones with a cue, topped with a specialist head.

That kit can cost upwards of £600.

Some of the council grant will help to buy new equipment.

"In wheelchair curling there is no brushing of the stone, so you have to be a little bit more skilled with your delivery, said Simmons.

The Preston Wheelchair Club's elite players are able to compete against non-wheelchair users and, joked Simmons, are "mid-table - certainly not cannon fodder!"

Simmons said the grant was "fantastic" news for the club and would allow more people to try curling for the first time.

Andrew Calderbank said he wanted to join the club after watching curling on television during the Winter Olympics.

"It looked like an interesting sport that I could try," he said, "because there are not a lot of sports you can do.

"What I've found is that it's not all about power and strength, it's about using your head and tactics."

'No age limits'

Members range in age from 30 to 78, although they are keen to stress that there are no age limits.

Children as young as 11 are allowed to join.

Curler Jean Guild said: "It's an exercise you can do until you are dead, I suppose!"

Guild is one of four curlers at Preston Wheelchair Curling Club who has competed for England, representing her country in Finland three years ago.

The club is sociable, setting time aside before training for members to catch up over a tea or coffee.

"This group are full of characters, they are a super bunch", said coach Rick Hills.

"It can be a bit like herding cats because they do like to talk as well," he joked.

The club has been operating since 2018, when the Flower Bowl entertainment centre opened in Garstang.

With it came the north of England's only dedicated curling hall.

"It opened up lots of opportunities," said Hills. "These wheelchair curlers, none of them started curling until this facility opened."

The club hopes the success of Team GB curlers at the Winter Olympics, and the upcoming Winter Paralympics, will bring more people to the sport.

Paul Simmons is a retired wheelchair tennis player, and he said "when Wimbledon was on, every year the tennis courts were full".

"We have to wait every four years for a Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics, and people see it and think 'I can give that a try'," he said.

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