A MALVERN-based charity will be showing off several new items of therapeutic equipment at the town’s Three Counties Showground this July.

The Association for Rehabilitation of Communication and Oral Skills (ARCOS) is among the organisations taking part in the Sports And Grounds Expo.

And among the exhibits at its stand will be Hero, a horse-riding simulator, which will be available for visitors to the exhibition to try for themselves.

ARCOS clinical director Kay Coombes said: “Hero has been generously provided for the exhibition in order to let people feel for themselves the benefits of horse riding.

“Hero was created by Bill Greenwood, whose company Racewood has produced amazing simulators that mimic the exact movements of horses. They are used in numerous centres providing riding for the disabled and in the rehabilitation of injured jockeys.

“ARCOS would dearly love to enable clients, both children and adults, to benefit from a horse riding simulator. This means raising £80,000. This amount is a big fundraising challenge, but such a worthwhile cause. This equipment changes lives.

“COVID 19 has stopped all riding for those who need physical assistance to get on and off horses and so the safety of these mechanical horses makes them even more important.

"Bill Greenwood and his colleagues at Racewood have been fantastic in their support for ARCOS and we are grateful to them and to Matthew Delahooke who has transported Hero to Malvern.”

The ARCOS stand at the exhibition, running between Tuesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 29, will also feature two versions of the Innowalk.

The three-in-one device, which resembles a cross-trainer, helps users with sitting, standing and movement and ARCOS hopes to buy one of each version at a combined price of £80,000.

Mrs Coombes said: “Made for Movement, distributors of the Innowalk in this country, arranged two days of demonstration at the ARCOS centre in Avenue Road.

“Covid-19 limited the numbers able to try it over those two days and so we are delighted that it will be back by popular demand for the show.

"Two of their staff will be in attendance, which will allow visitors to the show to experience the Innowalk robotic therapeutic equipment.

"One of our clients has an Innowalk at home and we would love others to be able to benefit from this equipment which was designed by the father of a disabled child in Sweden.”

Also on show will be apparatus for frame running, a para-athletic sport for people who cannot functionally run and rely on sports aids for mobility and balance, and a racing wheelchair.