View from the chair

16th October 2009

Hello again, I’m sorry about the delay since my last blog. Life has been hectic since returning from holiday, which also includes a health scare for my wife Pam. Thank goodness she is feeling better. At last week’s Disability Forum we heard that rail operators are planning further access improvements at Warrington Central Station. I can remember back to the early 1990’s whilst travelling back from Nottingham I faced an embarrassing but a somewhat humorous situation when the crew realised that I couldn’t walk down the 30 odd steps from the Liverpool bound platform at the station they asked to leave the train in Manchester. We continued the journey after I was then loaded into a cold and damp goods van that was attached to a separate train. When we arrived in Warrington they stopped all trains from Liverpool so our train could change tracks and pull in at the Manchester bound platform, just to get me off safely! Looking back I’m not sure if I should have been embarrassed or if I should have had a great feeling of influence as they had provided me with my own private train! But I’m sure that the Queen’s train has somewhat more plush fixtures and fittings! Staying on the theme of access, the green lights are on to build the £36 million Orford Park Project that will combine a state of the art leisure centre, including an Olympic sized swimming pool, health centre, library, education centre, links to open park land, a school and the collegiate. Once again back in the 1990’s I remember that after complaining about the lack of accessible facilities at our local swimming baths the Council invited us to advise them on how they could adapt their services, we thought we had won the lottery when they gave us a budget of £60,000 to adapt 4 local sports and leisure centres. Oh how times have changed.

Last week I chaired the latest meeting of the Griffiths Court Foundation, a local charity which aims to develop a specialist centre offering respite care, rehabilitation and supported residential accommodation to young disabled people. I was saddened to say that we have had to accept that the project has been hit by the financial downturn as our main partner has pulled out. I’m pleased to say that all of the Trustees are committed to fulfilling the dream of the late Miss Marjorie Griffiths, whom some of you know was my old school headmistress. Also during last week we held the 6th presentation evening of the hugely popular Northwest Positive Action Awards which recognise exemplar practice delivered by individuals, and small and large organisations and businesses. This year I was honoured to be the main speaker. I thought hard and long about the content of my speech and decided to give a personal reflection on the past 20 years starting back in July 1989 the date of my accident that led to the start of my latest journey. I spoke from the heart, mixing the really dark moments, which included thoughts and plans for suicide with a little humour and a few hard hitting facts. This must have hit the right cords as many people came to me afterwards and said it was the best speech they had heard me give, as it gave them an insight to the real me, away from the corporate “chair of trustees” that I usually hide behind.

I also shared my thoughts on what keeps me going after 20 years of what sometimes feels like hell, and other times feels like heaven. I said I reflect on each day, week, month and year and overall I ask the question “have I/we made a difference”. As long as the answer is yes, then there is still more to do. I took a lot of pleasure from watching the faces of our winners as they climbed onto the stage to rapturous applause. The stories behind each of this year’s recipients were amazing; including Rick Stubbs, a young man from Bury who has developed his own strategies in his fight to recover from mental illness, Warrington’s Eileen McDonald who is involved at every level of local health and social care services in her quest to influence change whilst dealing with her own long term health condition, to businesses including Asda Radcliffe leading the way in terms of supporting disabled employees. I look forward to what gems we can discover next year.

Yesterday I visited Beaufort Street to check up on progress and I was joined by members of the project team and Sandra our contact at the Big Lottery. It was clear to see how much progress Andy and his team at Bowesquare had achieved in a couple of weeks. Whilst there we agreed 4 further projects that will enhance the £923,000 project, including a workshop at the rear of the car park which will be used to refurbish electric scooters and wheelchairs, another extension to the caretakers house will be used to expand our arts activities, further space at the rear of the community cafe will be used to build a conservatory style meeting room, and the strip of land that wraps around two ends of the main building will be transformed into a mobility test track that will include a variety of surfaces which will enable us to train people using scooters and wheelchairs. I wish that was available when I took to the streets in an electric wheelchair, and I’m sure that several members of the public wished I’d received training as they jumped out of my way as I charged down the pavements.

All we need to do now is raise £175,000 to turn our aspirations into reality. As part of the fundraising I am planning to swim 20 lengths under water with scuba gear and 20 lengths on the surface. Are you interested in helping out? Finally time for a little personal reflection, last night our family went out for a meal to celebrate my son Gavin’s 31st birthday. It doesn’t seem 20 years ago, at the time of my accident when he was 11 and my daughter Emma was 8 they became by virtue of our relationship “young carers”. I would just like to say publicly how proud I am about the way they coped with the trauma and life changes, I’m especially proud to see how today they use their experiences to support WDP in our work.

Thanks again for your interest.
Until next time, take care.