won a grant to study architecture in a bid to make hotels more wheelchair-friendly.

Mr. David Croft, confined to a wheelchair since a diving accident on Horseshoe Beach in 1980, is to get a grant from the Lord Forte Foundation.

He will use the cash to take some training in an architecture practice in his native England so he can advise hotels on the most suitable facilities for disabled travellers.

Mr. Croft, who returned to Bermuda earlier this year for the first time since his accident, said that the Island's tourism industry needed to do more to cater for wheelchair-bound visitors.

"It wasn't easy coming back to Bermuda and other disabled holidaymakers must find things difficult,'' he said. "Hopefully, things will improve as Bermuda has the basis for being one of the most wheelchair-friendly places in the world.'' Mr. Croft said the Island needed some specially-adapted taxis to take wheelchairs and that suitable hotels and guest houses could adapt showers and bathrooms for wheelchair users.

Mr. Croft, now 36, was working at the old Bermudiana Hotel when he had his accident. He now does voluntary work for various charities which highlight disability issues.

Britain's Thistle and Mount Charlotte hotel chains will be including provisions suggested by Mr. Croft in future hotel re-building work.