Experience Community CIC

Experience Community was founded in 2011 by Craig Grimes as a Company Limited by Guarantee as a Community Interest Company. The aims of the company were to assist disabled people and the wider community to access local tourism and leisure activities through providing information and practical support. Since its inception, Experience Community has evolved into an organisation that has a more focussed mission and helps people enjoy green spaces and the Great British Countryside. The project started by making short films about facilities at museums, exhibitions and routes that disabled people could undertake in their wheelchairs. The films were made for Leeds City Council, Leicestershire County Council and West Yorkshire Metro and even included two British Sign Language Guides about facilities for deaf people at museums. Our work has now progressed and we have made films for organisations such as the RSPB, National Trust, Yorkshire Water, United Utilities, Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority Sustainable Development Fund, the Peak District National Park Authority and Natural England. Experience Community now offers organised guided walks for disabled people in Kirklees area, which are supported by volunteers from the wider community. Our current activities include three sessions per week and are made up of Mountain Trike Training Sessions, a Wheelchair Walk and a Mountain Trike Ramble. We have a clear progression pathway through our organisation for participants who start of on basic training sessions for the Mountain Trike and continue onto the Rambles. We also build disabled people’s skills and confidence through providing them with volunteering and training opportunities such as our Mountain Trike Trail Leader Course, which allows them to lead our rambles. As well as making films for large organisations and delivering activities directly for disabled people and the wider community we advise stakeholders on how they can make their land more accessible.