Tom Morgan Posted 8 October , 2006 Share Posted 8 October , 2006 Sincere public thanks to Forum Pal Burlington and his wife. This morning they gave up some of their time to help me get a very heavy electric wheelchair up onto the rim of the Lochnagar Crater. The Australian occupant of the wheelchair was suitably impressed when he got up there. Thanks Mr. & Mrs. B. It was a pleasure to meet you and Dr. Brock and his family appreciate your kindness. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alliekiwi Posted 9 October , 2006 Share Posted 9 October , 2006 Oh, wonderful! It's always nice to meet people you 'know' from online. and even better when they turn out to be lovely people. I met someone on Thursday last week from another forum, and had fun showing them around Auckland. no wheel chair stories to tell, though! Allie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auchonvillerssomme Posted 9 October , 2006 Share Posted 9 October , 2006 I hope he wanted to get up there and you weren't having a jolly jape! can just imagine 2 forum members running away giggling. Mick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 9 October , 2006 Share Posted 9 October , 2006 can just imagine 2 forum members running away giggling. Hmm - and there's no mention of bringing him down again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Incomer Posted 9 October , 2006 Share Posted 9 October , 2006 It's pleasing to know that the efforts of Richard & The Friends Of Lochnagar in raising funds to carry out essential work over the last two years have also made wheelchair access,with assistance, possible for several months of the year.We can only hope that Lochnagar ends the winter in better shape than in March this year. Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 10 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2006 Plus, I met Macrae at the Ulster Tower this morning! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 10 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 10 October , 2006 I hope he wanted to get up there and you weren't having a jolly jape! can just imagine 2 forum members running away giggling. Mick We had a good laugh at that this morning but - no way! This guy was truly inspirational and it was a privilege to show him around. He has Motor Neurone Disease, like Professor Stephen Hawking. He's completely paralysed apart from a small amount of movement in the index finger of his left hand, but he can speak. He has to have a specially-adapted vehicle. He needs a crane to get him in and out of bed and a trained nurse to attend to him each morning and each night. Once he's in the wheelchair, he stays there until bedtime. The wheelchair is a big, electric one and his wife "drives" it while walking behind. Yet in spite of all these difficulties, he made the trip from Australia to visit the battlefields. There's more - a week ago, while in Paris he was taken ill. He ended up in hospital having emergency surgery to correct a problem which had developed with his gall-bladder. After he came out of hospital the plan was to get him home as quickly as possible. But he is a tough guy. He decided to stay in France, taking things easy, until I arrived on Friday. Then we did the planned battlefield visit. (We first planned it two years ago but then, his doctors said he wasn't fit enough to make the journey.) He did THE LOT - Amiens, Villers Bretonneux, Le Hamel, the Somme, Fromelles, Ypres and of course, "Last Post". When we got back to the hotel after the Ypres day, he had been in the wheelchair for just over 12 hours. We got back at 10.30 last night. At 9.00 this morning they were off to Charles de Gaulle Airport to start the journey home. As our pal Burlington said, he is one tough cookie! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIRKY Posted 10 October , 2006 Share Posted 10 October , 2006 Tom we discussed your trip at last meeting. Really admire you for what you did for him! A true Pal. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burlington Posted 11 October , 2006 Share Posted 11 October , 2006 Thanks for your posting Tom. Both Ann & I were really impressed by Dr Brack and his positive attitude to life. This must make the task of his wife and family that much easier. It was nice meeting you as well!! Regards Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Morgan Posted 11 October , 2006 Author Share Posted 11 October , 2006 Thanks. Tony, but I wasn't alone - a lot of great people helped with the planning. This morning (back home) I'm writing my thank-you letters. I wanted to visit the school at Villers-Bretonneux so that we could see the "Do Not Forget Australia" sign in the playground. We were visiting on Saturday morning and the problem was not that the school was closed but that it was open, with the children in, so there was a security issue. (The school is in session three Saturday mornings out of four). A member of the Villers-Bretonneux Franco-Australian Society, along with the Deputy Mayor, was waiting for us with the key to the playground. They also took us into the school and into one of the classrooms - complete with teacher and children! My Australian friend has a professional interest in schools. In spite of his disabilities he still holds down a job as ministerial adviser, Member of the National Board of Employment, Education and Training; and a Senior Executive of the NSW Department of Education and Training. Thanks to Pal Terry Denham, I was able to get in touch with the CWGC Area Directors for France and for Belgium and they went to a lot of trouble to ensure that there were no nasty surprises regarding wheelchair access when we got to the cemeteries we wanted to visit. This wheelchair isn't like ordinary wheelchairs. You can get an ordinary wheelchair up one or two steps, but not this one. The CWGC went to quite a lot of trouble in this. Richard Dunning, the owner of the Lochnagar Crater, was very helpful in running through the ins and outs of wheelchair access to the crater lip. Our pal Burlington and his wife gave us a bit of extra help with this job on the day. Several Pals gave me the benefit of their advice as I hadn't seen the new viewing area myself, and Peter Beckett posted a picture so I could see the new layout in advance. At Tyne Cot Cemetery we left the van's lights on, and the battery was flat when we got back to it. After a quick phone call, Pal Charlotte Cardoen-Descamps of Varlet Farm mounted a rescue mission and her husband Dirk and son Florian left the fields where they were working and drove to Tyne Cot in their tractor, with a set of jump-leads! Jacky Platteeuw made us welcome at "Last Post" and Guy Gruwez, the Chairman of the Last Post Association, who was also at the Menin Gate that night, came to say hello. I'm posting all this to show the degree of help that exists if you need it. The Great War Community, of which this forum is a central part I think, pulled together and did a great job. With Pals like this, who needs any other interests? Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 11 October , 2006 Share Posted 11 October , 2006 Thanks for sharing your visit to the Battle Fields Tom. Amazing story of your Australian friend, just think of the wonderful memories he's gone home with. Plus the icing on the cake would have been meeting some new GWF Pals too Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 11 October , 2006 Share Posted 11 October , 2006 Fantastic effort from all concerned. As Tom says, the helpful nature of people associated with this Forum is really cheering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy Evans Posted 11 October , 2006 Share Posted 11 October , 2006 T I'm posting all this to show the degree of help that exists if you need it. The Great War Community, of which this forum is a central part I think, pulled together and did a great job. With Pals like this, who needs any other interests? Tom Brilliant Tom, what a wonderful story, what a wonderful community. Roy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen White Posted 11 October , 2006 Share Posted 11 October , 2006 Tom You mentioned this visit to the Somme and the difficulties you were facing, during the last couple of South Staffs Pals meetings that we have had. I am so pleased that it all went so well and congratulations to all those who helped, it has restored my faith in human nature. Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ypresman Posted 12 October , 2006 Share Posted 12 October , 2006 Hi What an amazing journey!! I have read this thread with awe, and it certainly does bring home the true grit of human endurance. If your determined to do something in life and you have set your target, then you know how important it is to fulfill it! Well done to ALL concerned and I only wish now the best for the guy, in whatever he does...he certainly has fulfilled his dream in true style.... Cheers Marc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithfazzani Posted 14 October , 2006 Share Posted 14 October , 2006 With so much negative talk around this story is truly heartwarming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terence Munson Posted 15 October , 2006 Share Posted 15 October , 2006 With so much negative talk around this story is truly heartwarming! I agree, with the media concentrating on all the negatives, it is good to hear something positive for a change. Tom thanks for sharing it with us. Cheers: Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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