Articles in Accessibility

BuDS staff and volunteers wearing masks stand around the statue of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

BuDDy Tours

A BuDDy Tour is an escorted tour by a mixed group of disabled people to a visitor attraction, to assess how accessible and inclusive the place is for disabled visitors. BuDS, through our Fair4All Visitor project, carries out several BuDDy Tours every year. The aim is to give constructive feedback to the visitor attraction, and to help them continually improve their disabled accessibility and inclusion.

So far in 2022, BuDS has arranged BuDDy Tours to the National Paralympic Heritage Centre at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, Waddesdon Manor, and the Chiltern Open Air Museum. Further BuDDy Tours are planned to other leading visitor attractions across Buckinghamshire.

BuDS welcomes disabled people to join us on these Tours. We like to make sure that all impairment groups are included. As well as a guided tour of the attraction, we usually include refreshments, and we can help with transport too. Carers can be included if necessary. If you are interested in joining a future tour, please contact volunteering@buds.org.uk, leave us a voicemail on 01494 211179, or message us through social media.

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BuDDy Tours of Waddesdon Manor & Chiltern Open Air Museum

As a mark of respect for HM The Queen, BuDS has postponed our planned BuDDy Tours of Waddesdon Manor and the Chiltern Open Air Museum (COAM). The Tours will now take place on Saturday 24 September (Waddesdon Manor) and Sunday 25 September (COAM).

A BuDDy Tour is an escorted tour by a mixed group of disabled people to a visitor attraction, to assess how accessible and inclusive the place is for disabled visitors. If you’d like to be part of either or both Tours, please e-mail volunteering@buds.org.uk straight away. Admission is included, along with a meet and greet with the site managers. BuDS Representatives will accompany the tours and be on hand at all times.


The BuDDy Tours were organised to support the Visit Buckinghamshire Boost, Boost Accessibility project. The BuDDy Tours were delivered by BuDS volunteers, in partnership with Visit Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire Business First, and Buckinghamshire Council. The Visit Buckinghamshire Boost programme was funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 2 September 2022

The Covid risk in Buckinghamshire has continued to decline over the last week. However, there is still a VERY HIGH risk of meeting an infected person at work, at the shops or when out and about. People still need to stay Covid-Careful, because Covid-19 has NOT gone away. We predict that around 1 in 83 people in Bucks are still infected with Covid-19.

Covid isn’t going away and there is just as much virus around as there has ever been. What is happening now is that so many people have recently had Covid that the virus is running out of new people to infect. So numbers of infected people are falling quickly, like a fire running out of fuel. But that situation can’t last long, as we explain below.

Please don’t feel safe because you have had Covid before or are fully vaccinated, or because numbers are currently going down.

Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places, breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 19 August 2022

The Covid risk In Buckinghamshire has continued to decline over the last week. However, there is still a VERY HIGH risk of meeting an infected person at work, at the shops or when out and about. People still need to stay Covid-Careful, because Covid-19 has NOT gone away. We predict that around 1 in 57 people in Bucks are still infected with Covid-19.

The big question now is whether infection levels will continue to go down, stay the same, or begin to rise again. The autumn/winter wave of Covid-19 has to start at some point, and this may be in the next few weeks.

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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 12 August 2022

The cautiously good Covid news continues this week, as the current BA.4/5 wave continues to decline. We do not have updated ONS data as yet, but our best estimate of the level of risk in Bucks is that around 1 in 40 residents in Bucks were infected last week. That’s nearly 12,000 people.

1 in 40 people infected means that you still have an EXTREMELY HIGH risk of meeting an infected person at work, at the shops or when out and about. People still  now need to stay Covid-Careful, because Covid has NOT gone away.

Don’t feel safe because you have had Covid before or are fully vaccinated. The new variants of the Covid virus making up this third wave have evolved to avoid your immunity, so you are still vulnerable to catching Covid again. Every time you catch Covid-19 increases your chances of being very ill or developing Long Covid, so it is still VITALLY IMPORTANT to protect yourself now, even if you haven’t been Covid-Careful up until now.  

Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places, breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 05 August 2022

The cautiously good Covid news continues this week, as the current BA.4/5 wave continues to decline. But there remains an EXTREMELY HIGH risk of catching Covid-19 in Buckinghamshire, with 1 in every 30 people in the County still infected. Despite the current wave peaking, there is still an ongoing Covid EMERGENCY, and everyone now needs to stay Covid-Careful.

Don’t feel safe because you have had Covid before or are fully vaccinated. The new variants of the Covid virus making up this third wave have evolved to avoid your immunity, so you are still vulnerable to catching Covid again. Every time you catch Covid-19 increases your chances of being very ill or developing Long Covid, so it is still VITALLY IMPORTANT to protect yourself now, even if you haven’t been Covid-Careful up until now.  

Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places, breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 29 July 2022

There is some cautiously good Covid news this week, as the current BA.4/5 wave seems to have peaked and may now start to decline. But there remains a CRITICALLY HIGH risk of catching Covid-19 in Buckinghamshire, with 1 in every 23 people in the County still infected. Despite the wave peaking, there is still an ongoing Covid EMERGENCY, and everyone now needs to stay Covid-Careful.

Don’t feel safe because you have had Covid before or are fully vaccinated. The new variants of the Covid virus making up this third wave have evolved to avoid your immunity, so you are still vulnerable to catching Covid again. Every time you catch Covid-19 increases your chances of being very ill or developing Long Covid, so it is VITALLY IMPORTANT to protect yourself now, even if you haven’t been Covid-Careful up until now.  

Our advice is to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places, breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability, just like wearing a seatbelt or not drinking dirty river water

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