Local mum to give back to PAMIS

Published On Tue 20 Sep 2016 by Cara Longmuir

An Arbroath mum whose children benefit from the work of the University of Dundee based charity PAMIS is to take a tour of Angus toilets to raise money for the organisation this weekend.

Lois Speed will cycle throughout Angus visiting Changing Places toilets in a number of towns. She will be accompanied on her trip with other fundraisers and is still looking for more volunteers.

Changing Places toilets are large enough to accommodate a wheelchair and up to two carers.

All money raised by Lois will go towards helping PAMIS, the only organisation in Scotland that works solely with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

Lois is mother to teenagers Kelsey and Kein who, after losing much of their mobility to muscular dystrophy, require specially-equipped changing rooms each time they need to use the toilet.  In 2014 she raised over £10,000 doing a similar challenge throughout the UK. 

She said, “We believe that it is essential that all new public and community buildings include at least one Changing Place toilet in their plans and already existing buildings install one if they can.

“These facilities are virtually non-existent and we have to plan each and every outing in advance, because there’s no place the kids can use outwith the sports centres.

“Lifting without a hoist is just not an option, and lying on the floor is not only degrading, but for both Kelsey and Kein it would be physically impossible.”

The Loo Tour de Angus will be split into two days with three different cycles that people can sign up to take part in. ‘The Big One’ will be a 62-mile cycle, starting and finishing in Arbroath and visiting the towns with Changing Places facilities such as Montrose, Brechin, Forfar, and Kirriemuir on Saturday, 24th September . The next day will involve two shorter cycles, ‘No.2’ which is a 10-mile cycle from Dobbies in Monifieth to Arbroath and ‘Just a Wee at No. 3’, a 1.5-mile journey from the Sea Front to Arbroath Harbour.

If you would like to join Lois, or would like more information about the Loo Tour de Angus, you can visit the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lootourforchangingplaces/, contact Lois at lois.speed@sky.com or contact Julie Taylor from PAMIS at j.t.taylor@dundee.ac.uk.

For media enquiries contact:
Cara Longmuir
Media Relations Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
Tel: +44 (0)1382 385243
Email: c.z.longmuir@dundee.ac.uk