accessing project context in external groovy script

i have an external script db_rec_count.groovy in the scripts dir: 'scripts\cws', in the snipped below if i call one of its methods:

def numbSqlRec = new cws.db_rec_count( sql_table_Transaction, "NumberOfRecordsReturned" )
numbSqlRec.getcount()

i get the following error:
ERROR:An error occured [No such property: context for class: cws.db_rec_count], see error log for details

can i not reference 'context' within the external script?

----db_rec_count.groovy--------
package cws

import com.eviware.soapui.impl.wsdl.testcase.*;
import com.eviware.soapui.support.GroovyUtils;
import groovy.sql.Sql;
import oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver;
import com.eviware.soapui.SoapUI;
import com.eviware.soapui.model.testsuite.*;

class db_rec_count{
 
  def sqlRecordName
  def propName_RecordsReturned

  //Grab sql config from global project properties
  def sql_instance = context.expand( '${#Project#SQL_ServerInstance}' )
  def sql_user = context.expand( '${#Project#SQL_User}' )
  def sql_password = context.expand( '${#Project#SQL_Password}' )
  def sql_driver = context.expand( '${#Project#SQL_Driver}' )