I
am hoping friends from as wide an area of our community as possible will be
able to drop by. I have deliberately widely set timings from 10am to 4pm so we
can have a constant flow of friends and not be overcrowded. THAT SAID PLEASE
SPREAD THE WORD AND INVITE AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO JOIN US. I have a big
garden
9 Humber WayBletchleyMK3 7PH
When
you arrive you will be met by a pathway of SMILES leading you through the front
garden, down the side of my home and into the garden at the rear. When you
arrive you will
be met with a stack of gifts made by Jollyes staff and
customers for PETS IN NEED. Please pick up a tin and take it through to where
you will be met by a box of SMILE stickers, take one and put it on the tin.
Wrap the tin in your love than add it to the TOWER OF TINS for Milton Keynes
Foodbank. In these terrible times of austerity let’s give our amazing Foodbank
LOVE and support as the even more now vital work they do is undertaken.
Time
goes by very quickly when you are old !It is now three weeks since I became ill. I ended up being sent to A
& E where I was given prompt, loving care then discharged to a clinic.
There the loving care of our NHS continued. I am now almost better, the garden
party for me will be a personal celebration and THANK YOU to our NHS.
I
deliberately set a modest target of £200 so I could honour any shortfall
myself. ALL costs for running the party are coming from my own pocket and NOT
taken out of donations. The JustGiving
site right now has received £95 and I have £40 in cash lovely people have given
to me to start off the collection buckets.
There
will be 50 copies of my books which visitors are free to take in exchange for a
donation thrown into one of the buckets. We are seeking to:
SUPPORT
children who are sick in hospital.
SEND
LOVE to their families.
THANK
our NHS staff who are caring for them.
Within
our SMILE programme it is so important to send love to families who are going
through
such a hard and emotional time with their child is sick in hospital. We
are seeing in the media reports of the passing of young Archie. The media has
failed to wrap love into its reports. I remember so well, we are talking late
1980’s, how Beck made friends with the little girl in the bed adjacent to hers
in Guys Hospital. I took a photograph of hem both. That little girl died and
her family was devastated beyond words I can use to describe their situation. Beck
took the photograph and over the little girl she wrote died. Over her own image she wrote liver.
At
the garden party you will be able to sign SMILE cards of love for families who
have a child sick in hospital. As well as University Hospital Milton Keynes
cards will be sent to the eleven hospitals around the world we support with our
project.
You
can also sign cards wishing patients in a number of Milton Keynes and Stoke
Manderville
wards a speedyrecovery. Each
month we send cards to patients in the Chiltern Kidney Unit. These lovely
people are unable to come to the party as they are all going out on a coach
trip for the day. I have already sent them SMILE cards wishing them a super
trip. You can sign cards THANKING our NHS staff in numerous locations. NHS
staff who every minute of every day go the extra mile.
NHS
= National Happy Smile.
I
have taken a series of stories written over the years, including a couple I
wrote while sitting at Beck’s childhood bedside in Guys Hospital London, and
published them in a book STORIES FOR YOUR CHILDREN. At the party I want you to
sign messages of love in a book, one each for the eleven locations around the
world we support: CALGARY – CanadaDUBLIN
– IrelandMUMBAI – IndiaNASHVILLE – USA AUCKLAND – New Zealand LOS
ANGELES – USA NEW YORK – USA BIRMINGHAM – England CANBERRA – Australia JOHANNESESBURG – South Africa CARDIFF - Wales
I
am going to keep you very busy so there will be lots of refreshments to help
you SMILE.
I
also want to share with you some ideas for future support, support for our NHS
and for our
Foodbank. I want to gauge how much support there is before
launching anything.
So…..
Sunday 14th August 10am to 4pm 9 Humber Way Bletchley MK3 7PH drop
by any time, tell you friends to come by. EVERYONE bring your love and SMILE.
A
SMILE is the vaccination for sadness. Come and help with our vaccination
programme.
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’tneed 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 4thAugust 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 21st 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 Newtonwas 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 sharesomewhat 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
2nd 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 ?
1962Doctor 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
15th October 1964 until 29th 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 ?
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.
When 999 was introduced in London on
Wednesday 30th 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.
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 14th 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 111is 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 17th 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 11th 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 importantthing is who
had ithappened 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 19th 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.
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 17th 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.
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