Bletchley The Home Of The Codebreakers. You can forget that !

Have a bit of fun with this !

Here's a chapter from my book Mkeneyan. Have a bit  of laugh reading this. Mkeneyan is the third in my Milton Keynes Trilogy. NOT THE CONCRETE COWS - published 1993  MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS - published 2020  and MKENEYAN published in June this year.

ALL royalt ies from all books are given to University Hospital Milton Keynes to suppport children who are sick in hospital.

Bletchley The Home Of The Codebreakers. You can forget that !

There is more to Bletchley Park than Alan Turing and his gang. It dates way back to the Doomsday Book, codebreaking is but a few years in its history and yes history is bunk after all !

There is more to Bletchley than Bletchley Park and there is more to Milton Keynes than its southern tip which the Anglo Saxons named Blecca’s Lea meaning a meadow or clearing in the trees. Who was Blecca I am wondering.

When I first came to live in the area we were known as Bletchleyites, that’s a forgotten name is it not ? Far better to be an Mkeneyan.

Hey as I begin this chapter am I raising a few hackles ? Your hackles may be raising but my tongue is in my cheek.

Bletchley the home of the codebreakers – FORGET IT !  How about Bletchley the home of the sausage ?

Scott of Bletchley, makers of the world’s finest cooked meat. That was no empty boast I can assure you. Located on Watling Street this business was too successful for our infant new city, workers had to be bussed up from London to meet the sausage demand. Scott of Bletchley, I wonder if the contacted coaches were Bletchley Coaches owned by Brian Baldry at one time Mayor of Milton Keynes. I can assure you Scott made far more sausages than ever the breakers decoded.

Olney the home of Amazing Grace. (Not to mention the odd pancake !)

What is the song which has been recorded by more artists than any other ? You don’t  need the Guinness Book of Records to tell you that song is Amazing Grace. Even the King of Rock and Roll himself recorded Amazing Grace. He used The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as his backing group. Pardon the pun but it truly is AMAZING.

Born on Saturday 4^th  August 1725 John Newton was captain of a slave trading ship. How horrible was that occupation. But some amazing grace wrapped itself around him and he totally changed his career becoming an Anglican Church cleric. For a time he served in Saint Peter’s and Saint Paul’s Church Olney where he wrote the world’s most artist recorded song.

John Newton left us on Monday 21^st December 1807 giving Milton Keynes heritage way beyond any codebreaker, sausage or tea bag.

Tea bag ?  Watch this space !

Tetley Tea may be world famous but it has its rivals, Typhoo, PG Tips et al but there is only one brand of pancake and that is an Mkeneyan pancake given to the world by Olney. I wonder if John Newton had an Olney Pancake for breakfast on the day he composed Amazing Grace. Ah no John Newton  was not born until 1725, legend tells us the Olney Pancake Race dates back to 1445. On Shrove Tuesday similar races are held around the world but none is as famous as our Olney Pancake race.

It may be history, it may be only a legend, a tradition. It may have happened, it may not have happened: but it could have happened. Thank You Mark Twain did they have a pancake race in Virginia City when you were editor of its local newspaper ?

Legend says that in 1445 a lady living in Olney was so engrossed in pancake making she forgot the time. When she heard the church bells ringing for the service she stopped what she was doing and raced to the pews. However, she did not put down her frying pan and took it with her.

Today any female over the age of eighteen who has lived in Olney for three months can race with their pancake in the footsteps on the 1445 absent minded lady and her frying pan.

Back to Bletchley.  Bletchley the home of the tea bag.

Have you been watching this space ? In a moment you can go off and make yourself a pancake which you can eat while sipping a cup of tea, Tetley teabag tea.

Once upon a time Tetley had a vast factory in Bletchley from which it first introduced the tea bag to our nation in 1953. That was the year of Her Majesty’s Coronation, did she have a Bletchley cup of tea when it was all over ?

Sadly Tetley moved away from the area in the early days of the New City of Milton Keynes but it did not take away its legend and tea bag heritage.

Stony Stratford ? That sounds like a cock and bull story to me.

Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross. Did you sing that as a kid ? Great, have a go and sing it again right now.

Ride a Cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes.

Never mind Banbury and its cross. Forget the lady with her rings and bells, I wonder if she rode side-saddle. The important thing here is the horse, the Cock-Horse.

The Cock Inn was a coaching in in Stony Stratford. Today it is a celebrated landmark of legend and history in The City of Milton Keynes.

Bullshit !

Excuse me !  How dare I used language like that in my book ? 

I am talking about legends, I am talking about heritage and legend says Stony Stratford gave that word to our language.

Publishers of The Oxford English Dictionary what does the word bullshit mean ?

Nonsense, it means nonsense. It is an offensive word for ideas, statements or beliefs that you think are silly or not true.

By the way you dictionary publishers I will be inviting you, when I have finished writing this book, to add some more words to the lexicon of the English Language. Mkeneyan of course but also former Milton Keynes mayor Mike Barry’s collective noun for a group of mayors, a chain gang. However, before then let me explain the origin of the word bullshit.

I have spoken about the Cock Inn in Stony Stratford, there is also just down the road the Bull Inn, another coaching Inn. Take a walk along Stony Stratford High Street and look at the abundance of pubs, notice how there are large archway entrances leading to stable yards at their rear. You will find similar establishments in other areas of Milton Keynes; Fenny Stratford and Woburn Sands but not Bletchley. Apparently sausages, tea bags and broken codes used motorised transport and not horses together with their carts.

Enough of that bullshit, back to Stony Stratford’s famous Cock Inn and Bull Inn. Legend says, Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain are you reading this, says that travellers staying in the Cock Inn would have a few pints too many of its ale and share  somewhat unlikely tales among themselves then run, perhaps given the ale that should be stagger, down to The Bull Inn where they related them to the inebriated residents in its bar.  Hence Cock And Bull Story. Oxford English Dictionary take note.

Mark Twain, I can’t say I ever read one of your newspapers but I have visited Virginia City in the US State of Nevada where there was not a single inn in sight.

Milton Keynes the home of rocket chemicals

When WD-40, the lubricating oil with a difference, was introduced to Great Britain I had a Saturday job working in our local hardware shop. Proudly stocking this new super product we told customers that NASA used it in their spaceships. Not so, before it was called WD-40 it was produced by the Rocket Chemical Company of San Diego California. Nothing to do with Apollo, Gemini or Mercury space rockets. What does WD-40 translate into Russian ? Whatever, Yuri Gagarin had never heard of it.

Have you ever heard of it , WFD-40 ? Have you got a tin of this magic spray in your house ?  I have. Where is the UK headquarters of WD-40 aka Rocket Chemical ?  You got it, Milton Keynes.

Newport Pagnell ?  James Bond lives down our street.

Never fancied driving an Aston Martin myself although in my Richard Headington detective stories JIF does.

Now seriously, what is Newport Pagnell’s greatest claim to fame ?  Do you ever watch Birds of a Feather on retro TV ?  Daryl Stubbs and Christopher Theodopolopdis are serving an eight stretch for armed robbery. It was in Newport Pagnell according to series creators Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, that they waved their sawn off shotguns.

As a kid at school growing up in the Royal Borough of Sutton Coldfield my mates and I had never heard of Milton Keynes, OK in 1959 there was the village but any idea for a new city had yet to wave its way into the thinking of Harold Wilson but we knew about Newport Pagnell. We called it Newporto Pagnellio, don’t ask me why we just did. And we had all been there.

On 2^nd November 1959, one day before my ninth birthday, Newporto Pagnellio Service Station opened on the M1 Motorway. My Dad drove a black Standard Eight which even in 1959 was getting on in years. Driving down to London to visit my grandparents this first service station on the motorway network was where we stopped to fill up with petrol and empty bodily tanks if you know what I mean. As an Mkeneyan I think you should all check out this legendary Newporto Pagnellio location.

James Bond Lives Down Our Street by Toys and Dolls ?  A great hit from 1985, off you pop to YouTube and have a listen.

My name is Bond! James Bond.
James Bond lives down our street
I've seen him he catches the 32 bus
James Bond lives down our street
sometimes he sits on the back seat with us
he's got a gun strapped to his chest
you can't shoot him in a bullet proof vest
a clever lad but can be a pest sometime
CHORUS:
0.0.7. James Bond lives down our street
Jimmy's a spy but both you and I know
Sean Connery or Roger Moore, that I'm not quite sure
But what I know is James Bond...
lives down our street
James Bond lives down our street
sometimes he gets a helicopter to work
James Bond lives down our street
me dad's oldfashioned and he says he's a jerk
he's always chasing a heavy mob
he should go out and get a proper job
he should go out and get a proper job sometime
CHORUS
Down our street there lives a spy
says he works for M.I.5
he's always a star when you're having a party
says he went to school with Russel Harty
he's a real smarty
he is a real smarty.
My hair is Blonde ! Dyed blonde !

In my book Richard Headington Private Investigator and its sequel The Case Files of Headington and Flemming Jif drives an Aston Martin DB11. James Bond favoured the Aston Martin DB5.

Which was the very first James Bond film you ever saw ?  For me it was Thunderball. At school we teenagers read Ian Fleming’s novels but were told by the teachers his writing was a flash in the pan, give it ten years and James Bond would have been forgotten. Thunderball was the fourth James Bond film. How many have there been so far ?

1962  Doctor No

1963 From Russia With Love

1964 Goldfinger

1965 Thunderball

1967 You Only Live Twice

1969 On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

1971 Diamonds Are Forever

1973 Live And Let Die

1974 The Man With The Golden Gun

1977 The Spy Who Loved Me

1979 Moonraker

1981 For Your Eyes Only

1983 Octopussy

1985 A View To A Kill

1987 The Living Daylights

1989 Licence To Kill

1995 Goldeneye

1997 Tomorrow Never Dies

1999 The World Is Not Enough

2002 Die Another Day

2006 Casino Royale

2008 Quantum Of Solace

2012 Skyfall

2015 Spectre

2021 No Time To Die

Twenty-five James bond films over fifty-nine years, hardly a flash in the pan !  What was the most popular car in 1962 ?  The Austin Mini-Minor. Without Newport Pagnell Agent 007 would have been licenced to drive this product of Alec Issigonis rather than an Aston Martin.

Ousedale School, Newport Pagnell’s centre of education. As a Work Tree volunteer I was once speaking with a group of Mkeneyan teenagers in this school. We were talking about the plight of homeless rough-sleepers. This lovely young lady, she would have been about fourteen, spoke about how she and a friend were in Central Milton Keynes and had seen one such person. That coming week-end she and her friend were going back to the shopping centre to buy a pillow and a blanket which they would give to the unfortunate gentleman. What truly lovely people she and her friend were. To my way of thinking there was more fortune in their kindness than all the profit from the twenty-five James Bond films put together.

One last thought. If this is Newport Pagnell, where is Oldport Pagnell ?

Wolverton – is that place still working ?

In the early 1970’s I toured Wolverton Works where its site manager said: There would be grass growing in the street of Wolverton if it were not for the railway.

In the good old days there was Bletchley Station in the South and Wolverton Station in the North. Central Milton Keynes Railway Station did not open until 1982. It was HRH Prince Charles who cut its ribbon. I wonder who opened Bletchley but never mind that it is Wolverton right now that is important.

But Wolverton was more than a small railway station. Along one side of the road was Wolverton Works. Conveniently located mid-way between London and Birmingham Wolverton was the maintenance centre for railway carriages. It also had a P-Way team (Permanent Way) maintaining the rail tracks. The Royal Train was garaged at Wolverton, hidden in a siding behind the work sheds.

Sadly, Wolverton Works is no more. The site now accommodates Tesco Supermarket, this that and the other. However, there is no garden maintenance contractor as grass is not growing in the twenty-first century streets of Wolverton.

The now infamous publisher Robert Maxwell was labour member of parliament for Buckingham, which included Milton Keynes, from 15^th October 1964 until 29^th May 1970. I will talk more of this gentleman in another chapter but to say here he was a major employer in the

early days of Milton Keynes. He took over Bletchley Printers and made it part of Pergamon Press. In Wolverton, on the opposite side of the road to Wolverton Works were buildings housing areas of the Maxwell Corporation’s empire. What’s there today ? Go and have a look. I can tell you one thing and that is you will not find a single blade of grass nor will you find a single printing press.  That’s TWO things. Ah yes. It would appear, like Robert Maxwell, I have difficulty counting.

Bletchley The Home of the Sausage ?  Nah, I’m vegan !  Bletchley The Home of the Teabag ? Sorry but I am tea-total ! I guess I’ll just have to go and break a few codes. Anyone got a hammer I can borrow ?

Emergency Which Service Do You You Require ?

Emergency Which Service Do You You Require ?

Another extract from my book National Happy Smiles. Have you read it ? Today I am celebrating our Ambulance Service – 999 WHICH SERVICE DO YOU REQUIRE  which is under tremendous pressure.

DO YOU LOVE OUR NHS ? Read MY story then tell YOUR story. Remember ALL royalties from sales will be given to University Hospital Milton Keynes to help SUPPORT children who are sick in hospital to SEND LOVE to their families and to THANK our NHS staff who are caring for them.

DO YOU LOVE OUR NHS ?  DO YOU CARE ?

Emergency – which service do you require ?

Ambulance please.

Next time, indeed every time you see an ambulance blue lighting its way along the road in response to an emergency call not only physically pull over in order to allow it to pass but mentally pull over and think of the person it is racing to help, think of the crew on board, think of the person who dialled 999 and think of the handler who managed that call to despatch the ambulance.

When 999 was introduced in London on Wednesday 30^th June 1937 it was the first emergency telephone system on the world. Way back eight and a half decades ago few homes had their own telephones, today’s smart phone was then a nightmare of science fiction. Public call boxes were everywhere, on most streets so summonsing help was not difficult. Those phones used rotary dials which I guess most people are familiar with but have probably never actually seen and certainly have never used. It was the index finger the caller inserted into the dial to make the call. By placing the middle finger of the hand against the dial stop the index finger rested on the space for number 9. This enabled a caller to use the emergency number in the dark. I think it is legend, perhaps an urban myth that the call connected on the second dialling of number nine with the third as a backup. I wonder, I doubt if anyone knows if that is true or not.

Emergency which service do you require ?

Have you ever had to dial 999 ?  Have you benefitted from our ambulance service ?

Allow me to invite you to set up your own call. What time do you go to bed ?  Set your alarm for the middle of the night, wake up and sit up in bed. In those small hours ambulance crews will be on duty, call handling staff will be awake and ready to despatch help. This is a 24/7/365 service. Yes, you can stop, pause and think during your day but that is too easy so set your personal 999 alarm clock to send love to these special people.

Have you ever had to dial 999 ?  Have you benefitted from our ambulance service ?

Sunday 14^th September 1980.  Milton Keynes where I live did not have its own hospital. Ambulances blues and twos made their way dozens of times every day to Stoke Manderville Hospital in Aylesbury. We did, however, have Bletchley Maternity Unit where my wife was admitted during the morning to give birth to our first child. That child was reluctant to enter the world. During the day our GP, Doctor Labrumm popped by to see how things were progressing. Progressing slowly. Eventually it was decided to transfer Mum and her reluctant baby to Aylesbury where expert help was waiting. That help was to be given at The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital which was a specialist maternity unit.

Transfer was by ambulance. A blue light transfer but minus the siren – blues but not twos ! I think the journey took around thirty minutes during which time the crew administered love and care to my wife.

“Is this your first child ?”  One crew member said to me as he and his team also wrapped a blanket of love around this nervous father.

“Yes,”  I replied. “And the last !”

Not the last, we had three wonderful children who were all born at The Royal Buckinghamshire Hospital in Aylesbury. Peter was number one, Matthew number two and Rebekah number three. For Matt and Beck we booked ahead for The Royal Bucks to avoid another blue light ambulance ride, instead transport was by way of my Austin Maxi. What a great car that was but another story.

Fast forward to 2015. I was up a ladder with a power saw cutting through some wood. When the saw separated the beam into two I lost my balance. My instinct was to clench my right fist to hold on tightly but that grip was on the electric circular saw. It sliced through the aluminium step ladder at which point I released my grip. Thank goodness I did as its next aim would have been my leg.

Falling to the floor must have taken but a single second yet I remember is clearly. I landed on my back but the sensation was of my being hit in the chest, it was hard to breath. I thought if I could sit up I would be able to catch my breath and all would be OK. Not it wasn’t, Maureen called an ambulance.

I felt an idiot, that idiocy overwhelming my physical pain. When the paramedics, two kind young ladies, arrived I apologised for being an idiot and said if they could help me sit up I would be OK. They tried but I was not OK. The pain was beyond words that even I as a prolific writer can compose. These lovely ladies explained I needed to go to hospital.

Embarrassment number two. Yes, I was embarrassed that my stupidity had caused the fall and now embarrassment, or should I say humiliation, number two !  Having got me onto a stretcher I was too heavy for these ladies to negotiate through the mess of my DIY debris on the floor. They had to call for a second crew, a male crew, to help. Honestly they did !

I do not remember much about my ride to the hospital, I was in far too much pain, but what I know without any doubt at all that love was wrapped around me in a thick, warm blanket of care.

111 ? Have you ever called the 111 NHS non-emergency help line ?

This service was gradually introduced in 2013 with full coverage across the country being in place by February 2014. Calling 111  is something you can do when you feel you need medical advice or treatment but it is not an emergency. The caller is connected to a trained operator supported by nurses and paramedics.

Have you ever called 111 ?  I have.  I was with a vulnerable adult I was supporting, it was a matter of course visit to his home. I was worried about his medical condition so I called 111 for advice.  I talked with a very helpful man who took the decision to despatch an emergency ambulance. Staffed by two ladies it arrived within minutes.

The paramedics diagnosed the situation was down to a lack of nourishment. He and his wife were Food Bank users. One ambulance lady spoon fed my friend with sugar.

Speaking with them, thanking them for their kind, prompt assistance I said could never do their job. Getting up in the morning, or getting up in the evening to go to work not knowing what crisis awaited them. It may be spoon feeding sugar to an under nourished man or it could be a situation where death was waiting.

Next time, indeed every time you see an ambulance blue lighting its way along the road in response to an emergency call not only physically pull over in order to allow it to pass but mentally pull over and think of the person it is racing to help, think of the crew on board, think of the person who dialled 999 and think of the handler who managed that call and despatched the ambulance. But more...

In the area where I live I often see an ambulance driving away from Milton Keynes heading towards Oxford. No blue lights, no sirens. On board will be a patient who needs specialist treatment the like of which will be waiting within Oxford’s Hospitals. One such journey involved my daughter.

Rebekah was in the renal clinic at University Hospital Milton Keynes but needed to be moved to the specialist department at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital. This was not a blues and twos emergency, if it had been then such an ambulance would have been immediately assigned. She had to wait until an ambulance and its crew became available to move her. That wait was several hours long. Her husband became worried that transport was not available. I did what I could to assure him all was well, if this was an emergency then an emergency team would have been instantly assigned.

When I see an ambulance gently making its way West from Milton Keynes to Oxford I remember Rebekah and think of the patient onboard.

It was a Northampton 999 emergency ambulance that was despatched on 17^th May 2017. Rebekah had stopped breathing. She died. It was the saddest day of my life but a day which has become special changing the sadness of her death to love for our NHS. Rebekah was moved from her home by ambulance to Northampton General Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. I did not make a big thing of it, it just came natural as I thanked the crew of that ambulance for trying to save my daughter’s life. Wonderful, beautiful people who showed love and care at every stage.

Next time, every time you see an ambulance blue lighting its way along the road in response to an emergency call not only physically pull over in order to allow it to pass but mentally pull over and think of the person it is racing to help, think of the crew on board, think of the person who dialled 999 and think of the handler who managed that call and despatched the ambulance.

That was how the original text ended. I had checked the chapter and sealed it off ready for the book to be submitted to Amazon. However, on Monday afternoon 11^th May 2022 I was driving home from a little holiday in the West Country when I saw more ambulances I could count. On the other side of the M5 Motorway there had been a horrendous crash. One car was ripped apart beyond which its make and model could be identified, all I can say is it was black. Several other vehicles were scattered about the carriageway and hard shoulder. Perhaps there were ten ambulances, could be more. Police cars and officers trying to support the paramedics and at the same time safely manage the mounting traffic stationary at the scene. There was one fire engine.

What had happened ? You know, that does not really matter the important  thing is who had it  happened to ? How many people were injured and what was the severity of their injuries ? Had anyone died ?  How many had died ? Behind every person involved there are friends, families and loved ones. Every emergency services person there was love, skill and dedication being brought to the situation. How were they reeling ?  How were they feeling at the end of their shift.

Laying in bed as I drifted off to sleep I thought of the accident and tried to send love to all the anonymous people involved at every level. I admire our emergency services so much, I could never do their job. Imagine leaving home for work with a situation like that waiting to happen and invade your day. What special people they all are.

Writing these words to add to the chapter the next morning I have checked news reports but all the media appears to be concerned with is the traffic chaos caused. That’s sad isn’t it.

On behalf of myself and ALL who will read this chapter I am sending love to everyone who I drove past on the M5 Motorway yesterday and to say the biggest possible THANK YOU to every single emergency services person at the scene.

Thursday 19^th May 2022 here is my Post Script.

I was driving along a major road, Portway, in Milton Keynes when traffic found the road blocked by an ambulance. On the grass verge there was a motor scooter and somewhere in the midst of paramedics was its rider. Along with other drivers I made a u-turn and found an alternative route. I was at the beginning of a long drive to the West Midlands during which for the remainder of my journey my thoughts were of the rider and the ministering paramedics. My heart refused to let my mind set them aside. Call me a sentimental old fool if you wish, the fact is a care. However, that care can never match the love with which our NHS ambulance team members cared for the motor cyclist whose scooter I saw on the grass verge of Portway Milton Keynes.

READ MY BOOK TELL YOUR STORY AND LOVE OUR NHS

Going the extra mile - That's what comes naturally to our NHS

Do you GENUINELY love our NHS ? 

If the answer is YES then read this chapter from my book National Happy Smiles then post a comment celebrating our AMAZING, WONDERFUL, BEAUTIFUL, LOVING NHS staff who every day care for their patients.

At the end of this post I will offer you the chance to join a new Facebook group I am trying to set up to support our NHS in this time of crisis. CRISIS is not an exaggeration, but the crisis is being met by staff going what comes naturally and going the extra mile. Will you go the extra mile to love and support our NHS ?

Going The Extra Mile That’s What Comes Naturally To Our NHS: 

As I drafted this chapter within MY story I shared with my family GP as it is HIS story. I am sure within YOUR story it also has a part.

I have only been in hospital twice in my life, I think I have told you that before but never mind.. The first was when I was born, I can’t remember much about that but I am told the hospital was Heathfield Road Maternity Hospital in Birmingham. The second time was when I stupidly fell off a ladder and broke three ribs, the hospital on this occasion was University Hospital Milton Keynes or to give it its full title University Amazing Beautiful Loving Incredible Hospital Milton Keynes where staff do not ever treat patients they only and always care for them.

I would not recommend breaking your ribs, it is a big time painful experience. In hospital I was on the mend but I did not want to eat anything. I felt too ill to eat but if I did not eat I would not get better and feel well again. You will find the hospital’s catering department listed within the Michelin Guide in the Five Star chapter. But no matter what was put before me I could not eat. The patient in the bed next to me even offered me food his family had brought in but I could not eat a thing.

If I wanted to go home I had to eat. If I did not eat I would not be well enough. All the various vitamin and whatnot levels in my blood were low, I had to eat. Staff tempted me with everything from a cheese sandwich to a plate of chips, from a bowl of fruit and jelly to delicious chocolate ice cream. I was not hungry. I needed to eat in order to get well but I was not well enough to eat, does that make sense ? 

Then things changed. The lunch was suddenly appealing and I ate every scrap. Standing behind me the ward sister saw my empty plate. She threw her arms about me and gave me a big hug. Some may say that was unprofessional, I say it was a case of caring for the patient not simply treating the patient. That hug was what I needed. It was a case of going the extra mile. It came naturally. I was discharged from hospital the next day. I am not planning to break my ribs again but have to make it clear the pain I suffered was worth enduring for the love our NHS wrapped around me.

Before Milton Keynes had a hospital it was a case of a thirty minute drive, a fast drive to Stoke Manderville Hospital in Aylesbury. I am talking now of late spring 1981, a Sunday evening. My son was learning to walk, to walk holding on to furniture. He slipped and fell, fell onto our family dog who was asleep. The dog reacted instinctively to bite my son. This was not an emergency so no 999 call, the 111 non-emergency number was not in use back then. The system was to call your local GP’s surgery where the call would be diverted to a duty doctor. I made such a call.

The call was answered by Senior GP at our surgery Doctor Jarvis. I explained what had happened and asked advice, should I drive my son to Aylesbury ?

“That’s a long drive,” Doctor Jarvis said, “bring our son to my home and I will look at him.”

My son sat on Doctor Jarvis’s kitchen table where the wound was cleaned and stitched. Doctor Jarvis went the extra mile by saving my having to drive all those miles to Aylesbury. He did not treat my son’s dog bite, he cared for him and all was well.

When I moved to live in Milton Keynes, when I came to attend teacher training college in 1971 where Doctor Peter Jarvis was the college doctor as well as a local GP. Attendance at the college was conditional on Doctor Jarvis becoming my doctor. When I left college I remained on Doctor Jarvis’s books. The surgery was then Whaddon House, today occupying larger premises it is Whaddon Healthcare where I have been a patient for more than fifty years. How fortunate it was that my family received care from my former college doctor.

My daughter was born in 1983 with chronic renal failure. As a child she was in and out of hospital, Guys Hospital in Central London. Whaddon House with Doctors Jarvis, Labrum and Hilmy actively supporting my family every inch of the way alongside the specialist team in London.

My daughter died on 17^th May 2017. Having married and moved to Northampton she was obliged to move to a GP surgery near to her home. However, the team at Whaddon still cared for her in the wider sense. When she died Doctor Hilmy telephoned me expressing his sadness and offering support. Doctor Labrum had retired but had staff at the medical centre ask me if he could telephone me. Of course he could. Doctor Labum spoke on the phone for twenty minutes giving his love and care. Doctor Jarvis wrote to me, a very special letter. I saw him at a community event a few weeks later and thanked him for his kind letter. Doctor Jarvis said he was simply doing what a doctor should do to care for someone in such a situation. Forty-six years after I first became a patient of Doctor Jarvis there he was in retirement but naturally going the extra mile, doing what came normal to him.

As an adult my daughter’s hospital treatment was shared between University Hospital Milton Keynes and The Churchill Hospital in Oxford. Late one afternoon attending a clinic appointment at Milton Keynes it was decided she needed to be moved by ambulance to Oxford. This was not a blue light emergency but she did need a medical ambulance, not a transport ambulance. She had to wait until an ambulance was free, that wait was for several hours.

The nurse at University Amazing Beautiful Loving Utterly Incredible Hospital Milton Keynes caring for her came to the end of her shift but she did not go home. She stayed on duty unpaid until there was an ambulance to take Rebekah to Oxford. She was not treating Beck in the clinic, she was caring for her – caring with love.

The next day I went to the renal clinic at University Amazing Beautiful Loving Hospital Milton Keynes to give this special lady a bunch of flowers and to say Thank You. You did not need to do that, she responded. She did not need to go the extra mile in the way she did, the extra mile that came naturally to her. She went another mile, when it came to Rebekah’s funeral this nurse attended to extend care to her patient and to show love to our family.

Doctor, doctor !  Do you have something for a headache ?  Yes, try this hammer.

GOING THE EXTRA MILE – That is what comes naturally every day right across our National Health Service.

You are still checking for typo’s aren’t you. When you find one stand up and shout I LOVE OUR NHS. And please speak up, I can not hear you ! I have made sure there are plenty here for you to find throughout my book.

SO DO YOU LOVE OUR NHS ?

Right now it needs our love. MY love and YOUR love. THIS is what you can do.

POST A COMMENT and chare this chapter on social media.

JOIN this new Facebook group and post messages of love and support. ONLY positive Happy National SMILES please. 

I have been a supporter of our NHS for close on 40 years. MY story is told in my book NATIONAL HAPPY SMILES which is available on AMAZON.

ALL royalties from EVERY sale both paperback and e-book are being given to University Hoslital Milton Keynes to:

SUPPORT children who are sick in its wards

SEND LOVE to their families

THANK our NHS staff who are caring for them

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OFFICIAL OPENING OF LEON SCHOOL 10th March 1971

 

My dear friend Daphne Capp has given me a copy of the programme for the opening of Leon School on WEDNRESDAY 10th MARCH 1971. I am here reproducing it below. (Please forgive Google Blogger which is useless at formatting text !)

It was in 1991 that I ran the project IN SEARCH OF THE LEONS and published a small book outlining all the Leonite students did. Sir John Leon and Headmaster Bruce Abbott wrote the introductions.

For almost a year I have been preparing to write a follow up IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAMMY LEON. I have now decided it will not be a follow up but a rewrite of the 1971 text.

ANYWAY here is this special opening day programme. THANK YOU SO MUCH DAPHNE.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

NORTH BUCKS DIVISIONAL EXECUTIVE

 

OFFICIAL OPENING

 

of

 

THE LEON SCHOOL BLETCHLEY

 

by

 

THE RT  HON  LORD BELSTEAD

Joint Parliamentary Under – Secretary of State

for Education and Science

 

 

on WEDNESDAY 10^th March 1971

at 2.30 pm

 

 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE EDUCATION COMMITTEE:

 

Chairman

RT HON THE  EARL HOWE CBE DL JP

 

Chief Education Officer

Roy P Harding ESQ  BSc  FIMA  DPA

 

North Bucks Divisional Executive

 

Chairman:

F W FINLOW Esq

 

Divisional Education Officer

D G LUCAS  Esq BA

 

School Governors (1970 – 1973)

 

K FULLER Esq  (Chairman)

I T E  GADESDEN Esq  (Vice Chairman)

W A CALDWELL Esq

A G CAMPBELL Esq

Mrs G E GREENWAY

E HOLDOM Esq

Mrs  D J PHILLIPS

Mrs.S.SNOOK

R A Swepston Esq

H C WEATHERHEAD Esq

CANON K WRIGHT

 

 

County Architect

F P POOLEY Esq

CBE FRIBA MI Struct E  AMTPI

 

Main Contractors:

QUEENSWAY BUILDERS LTD

 

 

School Staff:

 

D B BRADSHAW Esq  BA (Headmaster)

A J COZENS Esq (Deputy Headmaster)

Mrs J C Kilpin (Senior Mistress)

 

J A ARMSTRONG Esq                                     Mrs H J F HOLLAND

Mrs M P BALLENGER                                      A R HOWE  Esq

Mrs G BARFORD                                             H I C JONES Esq

Miss S H BENFORD                                         M E LEONARD Esq HNC

D J R BUCANNAN Esq                                     Mrs P M MEAD

Mrs D M CAPP LTCL                                        Miss J S MORGAN

R P CARD Esq                                                 J MORRIS Esq NDD ATD

G L COPSON Esq  BA                                     Mrs J A PERKS

Mrs G COOPER-SMITH                                   Miss G M PHILLIPS

W T R CROSS  Esq.                                        Mrs Z M PILGRIM

M D CROSS Esq.                                             Mrs V S ROPER

P C CUTLER Esq.                                            W J ROSE  Esq

Miss K DAVIES                                                J G SNINER Esq BA

Miss. S.Derry                                                   Mrs  A B STOPFORTH

J T W GARNER Esq                                         Miss J M TAYLOR

M P GAUDIN Esq                                             Miss P A THOMPSON

Mrs M C GRIFFITHS                                        Mrs E A TIMOTHY

J F HACKET Esq B Comm                               Mrs O B J WHITFORD

W J HARE Esq BA                                           B J WILLIAMS Esq BSc

R HELLOWELL Esq                                         Mrs P WOOLFORD

 

                                         Mrs E ARNOLD (School Secretary)

                                         Miss L ROGERS (Cook Supervisor)

                                         Mr D CLARKE (Caretaker)

 

 

 

ORDER OF PROCEEDINGS

 

1.       The Chairman – Rt Hon The Earl Howe CBE DL JP

 

2.       The Headmaster – D B Bradshaw Esq BA

 

3.       OFFICIAL OPENING – The Rt Hon Lord Balstead MA JP

 

4.       Dedication – The Rt Rev The Lord Bishop of Buckingham

 

5.       Vote of Thanks – K Fuller Esq

 

The Head Girl - Tracey Stevens

 

6.       National Anthem

 

 

   

LEON SCHOOL   WATER EATON

The new school complex is sited within the new Water Eaton housing development on the fringe of what will be the new city of Milton Keynes. Its 26 acres of grounds include playing fields and the new school buildings themselves, a district heating boiler house designed to serve all County administered property in the area, and a flood-lit running track and hard surface playing pitch.

The school is designed mainly with single and two storey blocks, to complement the ground contours, and to ensure the new first-year pupil is faced with a building within human scale and of contemporary simplicity. To this end, also, the various faculties have been laid out around internal courts, giving additional light and pleasant sitting out areas, while the interior has been designed to achieve as near a balance as possible between the necessity for hardwearing materials and the right kind of environment.

From the glazed entrance hall, stairs lead to the administrative accommodation and reference library at first floor level, and behind it, a three storey humanities block centres on grass courts bounded on one side by the music and drama rooms and a two storied science and mathematics wing on the other. The southern court is approached by paved colonnades under the domestic science and language block, a wide lawn separating the dining room and lecture theatre on one side and the English faculty on the other, while around the perimeter are planned an engineering and craft block, rural studies accommodation, a sports hall laid out for basketball, badminton, netball and cricket practice.

Construction has now commenced on the second phase of the school, which will cater for 600 additional pupils, bringing the total 1,400. Here a five-storied general teaching block will mark the culmination in vertical build-up, again surrounded by quiet lawns. Craft, woodwork and metalwork rooms, domestic science rooms, and first floor science accommodation, all planned around this central core. Provide a well-integrated Lower School. Further sixth-form study rooms are included, to augment the existing teaching rooms and communal suite, this latter area will perhaps be seen as the most informal in treatment, the aim being to bridge the gap in the environment between school and university.

Certain areas of the school have been provided by Bletchley UDC and by Milton Keynes Development Corporation. This marks a major step forward in the concept of joint provision and dual use of schools. The UDC have financed the provision of the floodlighting and the hard surface playing-pitch, and the Development Corporation have added a small sum to provide a social area. Pitch and running-track, sports hall, changing rooms, swimming pool and lounge, will form a recreational and athletics complex for the use of both school and public second to none in this area.

The school was designed by the office of the County Architect, and the firs phase was built by Queensway Builders Ltd at a cost of £406,200.

County Architect: F B Pooley CBE  FRIBA  FRICS

Deputy County Architect: A R Walker Dip Arch  ARIBA

Assistant County Architect: A G Humpston B Arch  ARIBA

Architect In Charge: D Aylett Dip Arch (Hons) ARIBA

Chief of Works: F C Coles