A funding boost is set to help wheelchair users enjoy ‘basketball, badminton and banter’ at a recently set up sports club in High Wycombe - but the founder of 'Wheelin' Wheelers' wants more people to benefit from it.

Pauline Parker, 46, of Bowerdean in High Wycombe, has been given funding of £2,000 from Buckinghamshire County Council to buy equipment and to continue hiring space every Sunday at Wycombe Sports Centre.

The aim of her Wheelin’ Wheelers club is to allow wheelchair users to enjoy a range of sports while socialising. The group has been a success since its pilot scheme launched last September, but Pauline hopes for more members to join.

She said: "It’s such fun to go there for two hours. You play sport and you forget about the bad week you have had and all the pain you have been in," said Pauline, a mother-of-three and a grandmother of six.

"We have about six members at the moment, but we could easily cope with 20."

She stressed that ability is irrelevant, although members preferably do need to be able to self-propel in their chairs. The club is not aimed at people who want to win the Paralympics, she says.

"This is more for people who don’t want sport take over their life, but just want to participate once a week and have a bit of fun," she added.

"So many more people could be gaining from this. Two of the members have said it has changed their lives having somewhere to go each week to play sport. It’s something for us to look forward to. Basketball, badminton and banter is the motto."

Pauline, who worked in the finance department of the Department for Work and Pensions, became paralysed from the waist down after suffering a spinal cord injury in 2009 after an operation to cure a slipped disc.

She later spent several weeks in rehab at Stoke Mandeville Hospital’s National Spinal Injuries Centre and, later saw the need for a fun sports club in High Wycombe.

The pilot scheme was initially funded through support from the Bowerdean Residents Action Group and a grant from Wycombe District Council’s ward member for Bowerdean, Cllr Julia Wassell.

Cllr Wassell then successfully put forward the group for further funding through the County Council’s High Wycombe Local Community Partnership.

Its chairman, Cllr Valerie Letheren, said: "I’m delighted we were able to help Wheelin’ Wheelers in this way because there is a clear need for such a club to be run in the Wycombe and south Bucks area. I just hope that other wheelchair users will contact Pauline and grab this free opportunity to take part in sport and have fun at the same time."

Wheelin’ Wheelers currently runs from 2 to 4pm on Sundays at Wycombe Sports Centre and is for all ages.

For more information, email pparker704@gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/basketballbadmintonbanter