BUBBLE tubes and fibre optics are on the shopping list for a new relaxation room to be built at Worcester Snoezelen.

Thanks to the Gannett Foundation's grant of £5,000, the room will also be equipped with a water mattress, soft seating and special effects projectors.

"It's fantastic, brilliant!" said manager Penny Bews, on hearing of the grant.

"It means we will be able to replicate what we already have in our white room and enable more people with physical, mental and sensory disabilities to relax here.

"At the moment the white room is in such demand that we are having to turn people away, because we can't accommodate them."

The Snoezelen, established in 1993 in the grounds of Manor Park School, Turnpike Close, has developed to meet the needs of a wide age and ability range.

Up to 400 people use its leisure and relaxation facilities each week and a new £65,000 project called Reach for the Stars will make more space for what is already on offer.

A previous plan for a new building detached from the main centre has been abandoned in favour of an extension along one side.

It is proposed that users will enter it through the present massage room and there will be a star tunnel leading all the way to a new massage room, music studio, video room and white relaxation room.

Tunnel

"The star tunnel will contain interactive sensors, using fibre optics to motivate and stimulate even profoundly disabled people," said Mrs Bews.

"It is instead of our dark room, a small area adjoining the present white room, which we will then be able to extend."

The new white room, like the old one, will provide a calm, relaxing background in which people can trigger exciting visual and auditory responses at the touch of a switch.

This gives them a degree of control over the environment that increases their confidence and encourages communication.

The Gannett grant will cover the cost of equipping the new white room and the Snoezelen hopes to raise another £20,000 from charitable trusts, fund-raising events and reserves to equip the other rooms.

Three trusts have already pledged £45,000 towards building costs.

"We cater for babies, children and adults, many of them with profound multiple disabilities and a variety of complex special needs," said Mrs Bews.

"We also offer support for their parents, families, teachers and carers, who can meet here to share their problems and be sure of a welcome.

"With more space we will be able to make more sense of what we have got," she added.