When Margaret Courtney could no longer lift her walking frame into her car, she feared a loss of independence and a limitation of her active social life.

Mrs Courtney, of Kennedy House, Ingrow, suffers from osteoarthritis, and after she suffered a fall and underwent a hip replacement she struggled to manoeuvre the wheeled frame into the back seat of her Vauxhall Astra estate car.

However, a group of inventors, who work voluntarily for the Remap charity, came to her rescue and produced an innovative spring loaded hoist to allow her to easily get the frame into the side of the vehicle.

Mrs Courtney said: "I use my car every day and it would be very difficult to use it without the device. I've had it around six months and it's made a big difference."

It's a story that has been repeated many times throughout Keighley in the last five years with members of Remap -- the Rehabilitation Engineering Movements Advisory Panel -- aiding the lives of people suffering with disabilities.

Remap is a national charity which helps people of all ages enjoy a better lifestyle. The Airedale section of the charity was formed five years ago.

The panel of around ten members -- largely consisting of retired engineers -- meets at Airedale Hospital, in Steeton, every three months.

They meet with clients and occupational therapists from the hospital and try to come up with solutions to the clients' problems. If the client is happy with the proposed solution, the engineer will then manufacture the device.

Other recent cases include an aid to help those with the use of only one hand to play pool, and special cutlery for a girl with limited hand function.

An on-going development is the attempt to adapt a sewing machine so that a disabled boy in Cullingworth, who is unable to use the pedals, can use it.

Chairman of the Airedale Panel, Arthur Atkinson, 71, said: "The organisation is formed of local panels of volunteers ready to design and manufacture bespoke equipment to satisfy a client's need whenever that need cannot be met by a commercially available aid.

"Some of the requests have taxed the ingenuity of the volunteers, but in all cases the panel members get a feeling of satisfaction from supplying helpful aids. The panel is hoping to continue solving problems for at least another five years." Mr Atkinson said: "In Margaret's case I wrote to a spring manufacturer called Applied Spring Technology, in Northampton, which fitted a spring motor cable retractor in the device."

The Airedale Panel was established by John Rose -- a retired hose research engineer, who has developed a purpose built workshop at the side of his home in Bentham to carry out his work for the charity.

Mr Rose, 71, added: "All our work is free of charge and you meet a lot of interesting people -- both clients and occupational therapists.

"At the moment, I'm working with a client who's paralysed but who can use a computer mouse. We're trying to develop a system so he would be able to draw his curtains through using the mouse."