I learned a lot
I worked at St Bridget’s, the Leonard Cheshire home in Ilex Close, Rustington, for four years and was very happy to have done so. My late husband Ron was a carer there and also enjoyed working for the family, as that was what the residents were called, then.
I never met Leonard, as he died before I worked there, but what a great man he was. He also had a caring wife, Sye Ryder.
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Hide AdI read, in the book he wrote, that after the Second World War, no one wanted the disabled, so he and his wife opened up their home to them and, with a lot of help from people like Betty Green in this area and volunteers, raised money to create homes like St Bridget’s and others, for the disabled.
I also agree with the comment in the story that you have to put yourself in a wheelchair for the day, go shopping, get on buses and trains, to know what it’s like. We take life for granted in the way we can move about.
Ron and I went to France with other carers to help on a holiday taken by four of the ‘family’ and we enjoyed it as much as they did. They taught me a lot about being disabled and I was grateful for that.
As Ron had two strokes in 1994 and 95, he had to be pushed about in a wheelchair for 12 years, before he died in 2007.
I also wish motorists would not park across the sections of kerb which have been lowered so that wheelchairs can get across the road.
Peggy Brassett
Leemark House
Beach Road
Littlehampton