ONE of Britain's lesser-known, but very practical, charities is looking for people to help in the Malvern area.

REMAP is a small and very cost-effective national charity that for more than 30 years has offered people with disabilities a better quality of life by providing one-off technical aids free of charge.

The charity was formed in 1964 at an ICI plant and, since then, has attracted a small but dedicated band of engineers, designers and do-it-yourself enthusiasts.

The aim is to construct custom devices which will help disabled people carry out a wide range of activities.

Geoffrey Palmer, of Assarts Road, Malvern, who is a member of REMAP's Worcester panel, said: "There are a wide variety of devices to help disabled people which are commercially available.

"But many needs of disabled people are not catered for, and that's where we come in."

Like many of REMAP's volunteers, Mr Palmer is a retired engineer and comes up with gadgets in a home workshop.

It may be something as simple as an extension for a window handle, but it makes all the difference to a disabled person's ability to control their environment.

Projects Mr Palmer has worked on include adapting a bicycle for use by a child with a deformed arm and designing a device which allows people with arthritis to easily use an angina spray.

At the moment, he is working on adapting a cot for a little blind girl and is looking at building a hoist which would allow a disabled woman to get her shopping from her car to her first-floor home.

REMAP's clients are frequently referred by social services or occupational therapists - when they know that REMAP exists.

And that's a problem, at least for the local group.

"We really need more projects to work on," said Keith Phillips, of Avenue Road, who has recently joined the group.

"We can always do with more help, but right now it is work that we need."

The range of projects which REMAP has worked on nationally is quite remarkable, as a perusal of the charity's yearbook will show.

One group produced a device which assists a piano tuner who lost the use of his right arm, and enabled the man to go on working.

Another devised 'formers' which enabled a blind basket weaver to continue in his trade.

Other gadgets thought up by REMAP have allowed disabled people to continue a favourite hobby or take up a new one. Devices in this category include a wheelchair-mounted camera support, a ten-pin bowling aid and a casting device for fly fishing.

Equipment worth more than £3 million was made and given away last year, which is a pretty good result from an organisation that has 1,500 skilled volunteers and just three paid employees at its HQ in Kent.

If you want to know more about REMAP, contact local chairman Dieter Baer at Byfleet House, Main Road, Ombersley, Worcestershire WR9 0DP.