A HOLCOMBE riding charity will be footing a £15,000 bill for road repairs as carers are finding it “nigh impossible” to drive disabled riders to the centre.

Maragret Haes Riding Centre sits in Moor Road, which is classified as a bridle path by Bury Council, is in such poor condition it’s damaging the underside of cars.

For now the centre is making do by ferrying riders in a Land Rover from the nearby Shoulder of Mutton pub’s car park in Lumb Carr Road.

Linda Nuttall, a trustee of Margaret Haes Riding Centre said: “It’s deterring some of them unless they have four wheel drives.

“It’s difficult getting them up to the stables and they can’t walk a lot of them. It’s nigh impossible to get them up there and we can’t bring the horses down because they need a mounting block.”

Val Littleton, whose son, Gregor Gilmure, aged 23, he has cerebral palsy and has been enjoying the centre for 14 years.

Miss Littleton said: “[Gregor’s] a wheelchair user so he gets to get out of his wheelchair and out into the open air and out onto the moor, he loves that.

“It’s good for his physio, for his hips and posture and if the weather isn’t good he rides indoors.

“It’s a way of exercising and it’s fun and he also loves the horses. It’s a way of socialising.”

Miss Littleton’s van has an outside ramp at the back between the wheels for Gregor’s chair and the last time she drove up the road she clipped it.

She said: “It had to go in for repair and then Gregor becomes isolated.”

The Moor Road riding centre has already paid for a various repairs to the road, which have had varying success.

Mrs Nuttall, said: “We have put some loose stones on but they keep washing away. We have already spent quite a lot of money on it and it’s hard work raising the money.

“We’ve put a culvert in already to stop the water flooding down. Once that’s working we can put the tarmac in, hopefully in the next couple of months.”

The trustees hope they will be able to put two strips of tarmac on a 130m stretch of the road to enable cars to get up more easily.

The centre has been quoted £15,000 for the work and will be fundraising to reach that goal. Mrs Nuttall hoped to gain the support of the local community, especially dog walkers and cyclists who use the road, to help organise fundraising.

If you would like to get involved call Linda Nuttall on 07715569608.