A woman who has been volunteering for nearly 50 years has been presented with a Dartfordian award.

The Dartford Association for the Disabled has been going since 1963 and Maggie Scholey has been involved since 1967.

It gives disabled adults of all ages the chance to get out, socialise and have fun.

Last month, members celebrated the group’s 53rd anniversary with an afternoon tea. However, recently numbers have dwindled so treasurer Maggie, of The Crescent, Greenhithe, and the other four volunteers – including her husband Colin – used the event to try to introduce new members to the group.

They delivered leaflets to local sheltered accommodation areas inviting people along and four new members signed up, but more are still welcome.

Lilian Conyard set up the group and Maggie got involved in her early 20s because she was best friends with Lilian’s daughter, Gillian. The pair were always keen to help out in the community.

Now 68, Maggie said: “We were in the church youth club together as teenagers and we would go round visiting the hospitals then. We used to spend Sundays at Joyce Green, pushing the people who had muscular dystrophy around the grounds.”

From then she went on to work in Bexley Hospital, in occupational and physiotherapy, until it shut down. After that she became a driver for Age UK and worked for Asda.

For decades she balanced volunteering with being a mum-of-three and working part time. She now has eight grandchildren. The club also proved a big help to Maggie, when she lost her first child, Christopher, aged just six months.

She said: “We had two nuns from the Dartford convent who used to come down and help out, and they were a huge support.”

But Maggie doesn’t stop there.Now retired and with a bit more time on her hands she also helps out at the Swanley disabled group one day a week. Two evenings a week are also taken up with volunteering with Cubs and Scouts, including the 1st Galley Hill, Swanscombe, and Sutton-at-Hone groups. When their two boys got involved Maggie and Colin became leaders. Now her grandson Daniel, in Gillingham, is part of a Cub group and another grandson is waiting to join.

Dartford councillor Pat Coleman nominated Maggie for the award, which she was bashful about accepting. Maggie said: “I’ve tried to keep a bit of a low profile really. My aim is to just help people where I can. I’m probably busier now than ever, but I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t busy. The only trouble is you don’t always get everything done at home.”

This year celebrates 100 years of Cub Scouting, so Maggie is more involved than ever in various celebration activities, including a special camp-out in August.

Appeal for new members

New members of all ages, with any disability, are being welcomed to the Dartford Association for the Disabled.

The group started out as a craft club, but with materials proving costly and some people not able to get as involved as others, it gradually transformed into a place to meet up and make friends.

People get together for a drink, a chat, to play games and to go out on trips to gardens centres, restaurants or the theatre.

Some original members have had to stop going because they are too ill to leave their homes, and others have died which means numbers have dwindled from around 25 to just over 10.

With a passenger ambulance available, volunteers can collect people from their homes.
Maggie said: “We get mostly older people because old age and disability often go hand in hand, but we’ve had people who are younger, with all sorts of disablements.

“Musical bingo is always a popular game here, where a clip is played and people have to match it up with the song titles their have on their bingo cards.

“But we’re open to all sorts of activities and we’re hoping to encourage younger people to join us as well.”

They run outings once a month, and meet every Thursday from 2pm to 4pm at the 9th Dartford Scout Hall on Heath Lane, Princes Road.

There is a small charge of £2.50 to go towards the hire of the hall, and for transport included it costs £5.

If you wish to go along to a session, call Maggie on 07787504585.