Experience Community
Meet the people and partners that make our work possible.
At Experience Community, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors.
As a not-for-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) dedicated to helping disabled people access and experience the benefits of green spaces we work to break down barriers and increase opportunities for people of all abilities.
We offer a wide range of activities, from inclusive rambling to road and trail adaptive cycling, and have a large fleet of equipment available for sale and hire. Our wheelchair skills courses provide essential training to help people navigate various terrains and overcome everyday challenges.
We also offer personalised journey planning support, helping individuals plan accessible routes and explore their local area with confidence. Both our courses and activities are peer-led by staff with lived experience of disability and wheelchair use.
We offer a wide range of activities, from inclusive rambling to road and trail adaptive cycling, and have a large fleet of equipment available for sale and hire. Our wheelchair skills courses provide essential training to help people navigate various terrains and overcome everyday challenges.
We also offer personalised journey planning support, helping individuals plan accessible routes and explore their local area with confidence. Both our courses and activities are peer-led by staff with lived experience of disability and wheelchair use.
We’re committed to creating more inclusive and accessible outdoor experiences for everyone. We’d love you to join us.
Our Teams
Experience CommunityLeeds
Middleton Park in Leeds is where we run our regular weekly rambling and adaptive cycling sessions and the main hub from which we organise outdoor activities or Experience Sessions further afield.
Our friendly and knowledgeable team is highly experienced in working with disabled people. Led by Mick Galloway, our staff includes Adrian Aylmer, Ione Macgregor, William Macpherson, Amy Thraves-Connor, and regular volunteer Gill Arnett.
Our friendly and knowledgeable team is highly experienced in working with disabled people. Led by Mick Galloway, our staff includes Adrian Aylmer, Ione Macgregor, William Macpherson, Amy Thraves-Connor, and regular volunteer Gill Arnett.
Experience CommunitySlaithwaite
Our Slaithwaite office is our headquarters for General Manager Rik Legge, and the base for our local activities — focused on building links in the surrounding communities and helping to reduce social isolation.
Staff members Jamie Murrant and Rebecca Cook are always ready to provide a warm welcome at our community events — from book groups, craft activities, board games and Lego clubs to gardening days and litter picks, as well as a drop-in wheelchair skills course each Thursday.
Staff members Jamie Murrant and Rebecca Cook are always ready to provide a warm welcome at our community events — from book groups, craft activities, board games and Lego clubs to gardening days and litter picks, as well as a drop-in wheelchair skills course each Thursday.
Experience CommunityConsultancy
Also based at the Slaithwaite headquarters is our consultancy division — working at an organisational level to provide training and strategic guidance on improving access to green space and the outdoors for disabled people and developing sustainable models for inclusivity and diversity.
Managing Director Craig Grimes heads up the team, alongside experienced consultant and course leader Callum Russell and his support worker Antonio Amaral. Learn more about their work in our dedicated training and consultancy section.
Managing Director Craig Grimes heads up the team, alongside experienced consultant and course leader Callum Russell and his support worker Antonio Amaral. Learn more about their work in our dedicated training and consultancy section.
Funders & Sponsors
Partners
Experience Community works with Yorkshire Water to help improve access at their sites for disabled people, including regular walking and cycling activities
Craghoppers help us achieve our charitable aims of helping improve disabled access to the countryside by helping to fund some of our activities.
Experience Community Charitable Foundation
The charitable side of our work is undertaken through our Foundation which organises subsidised Taster Sessions, Rambles, Rides and Residential Trips using the different pieces of equipment that we have available for our participants.
Our sessions are at our base at Leeds Urban Bike Park where people can use Mountain Trikes and adapted cycles to access the bike park and Middleton Park. These sessions help build peer support communities so people can make new friends and learn from each others’ experiences.
Although these sessions are part of the Experience Community Charitable Foundation we ask for a financial contribution from our participants as the money raised helps us continue our work and maintain our fleet of equipment.
We try to keep this as low as possible — our activities start from as little as £5.00 for a session at Leeds Urban Bike Park and £10.00 on our weekend rambles and rides.
Our charity number for Charities Commission is 1189057
Our sessions are at our base at Leeds Urban Bike Park where people can use Mountain Trikes and adapted cycles to access the bike park and Middleton Park. These sessions help build peer support communities so people can make new friends and learn from each others’ experiences.
Although these sessions are part of the Experience Community Charitable Foundation we ask for a financial contribution from our participants as the money raised helps us continue our work and maintain our fleet of equipment.
We try to keep this as low as possible — our activities start from as little as £5.00 for a session at Leeds Urban Bike Park and £10.00 on our weekend rambles and rides.
Our charity number for Charities Commission is 1189057
Community feedback
I have had a spinal injury for 12 months and am still coming to terms with my disability. Experience Community has played a huge part in my recovery and rehabilitation.
Through a difficult year, their activities have given me a vital avenue to safely experience physical exercise and the outdoors while I relearn how to live my life.
Through a difficult year, their activities have given me a vital avenue to safely experience physical exercise and the outdoors while I relearn how to live my life.
Ian W
Participant, Experience Sessions
Experience Community has been absolutely brilliant. The course came at just the right time for me. I really needed to be around people that could inspire and encourage and you certainly did that.
EC Member
Participant, Wheelchair Skills course
After contracting polio in 1958, I was unable to ride a bike as a child or teenager. In my 60s, I found EC and all that changed, with helpful, knowledgeable staff helping me choose the right cycle. I now regularly enjoy their escorted cycling sessions, gaining a new group of friends and a new activity that helps my overall well-being.
Frank E
Participant, Experience Sessions
The Mountain Trike wheelchair has made a huge difference to my life. Being able to hire this equipment before buying, and going on the EC-organised rambles with support staff there to help when needed has been invaluable. It’s allowed me access to the countryside once more.
Marie M
Participant, Experience Sessions
A really useful course that has pushed me a lot further. Recently a trip didn’t go at all to plan; two cancelled trains, more difficult wheeling than expected, and I had to use two buses and an alternative route through Leeds Station. But I found the confidence to just do it and surprised myself by just how much I’m now capable of!
EC Member
Participant, Wheelchair Skills course
I am very grateful to Experience Community for the opportunity to use and experience the equipment needed to access the outdoors. Without the service, care and support they offer, I doubt I would have ever reconnected with the outdoors
Phil T
Participant, Experience Sessions
As a disabled person I have struggled to find a way to access outdoor activities independently and safely. I had all but given up when I came across Experience Community. I was shown a variety of equipment to find out what worked best for me. The guys were so helpful, patient and friendly and allayed any fears I might have had.
Siobhan T
Participant, Experience Sessions
I have been attending all sorts of events with Experience Community for a few years now and have enjoyed every one. Their staff are helpful and encouraging and the range of equipment you can try is amazing. It’s allowed me to push myself in a safe, friendly environment, I’ve made new friends and it’s just great fun.
Steve H
Participant, Experience Sessions
Experience Community are my guardian angels. Several times now they’ve saved me when nobody else in the country knew how to repair my wheelchair or my off-road trike, even the manufacturers! They’re a team of brilliant, smart and committed people who are driven to get people rolling and I owe them a massive thanks.
Owen T
Customer, Equipment Servicing
Experience Community is an organisation that has shown me I can still be free to enjoy the ‘great outdoors’ even as I lose the ability to walk – meeting new people, making new friends and visiting different places.
My advice, whoever you are — is to take a deep breath and come along to see for yourself!
My advice, whoever you are — is to take a deep breath and come along to see for yourself!
Meryl H
Participant, Experience Sessions
Community feedback
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