It’s Tuesday night, quite a long time ago, and we have just returned from Torquay where I was speaking about ‘Strategic Planning for Dummies’. It was to a group of voluntary organisations within the Torbay Council District. Judy came with me and on Monday afternoon we had a look at the town and decided that we would possibly never need to be here again, but it was an interesting experience. Although they call it the English Riviera, for us there was not a lot that commended itself to us, although it is still hugely popular and in the summer every road would be grid locked with people coming down here to stay.
They paid my expenses and the Hotel we stayed in would have been a very special one but time had taken its toll and it had that old world decrepit look that matched the very ornate out of date décor. In the dining room where we had breakfast there was this glass domed roof that would have been spectacular a few years ago but now was just an interesting bit of art deco that was in need of a good clean and tidy. The whole ambiance seemed to reflect the era of Mrs Marple and we expected Hercule Poirot to walk in the door stand by the fireplace and tell us who killed the butler. With all the people at Breakfast we brought the average age of the diners down quite dramatically because it seemed that this was the time when coach loads of OAP’s (old age pensioners) flooded the town and had dancing sessions. It was also a bit scary to see almost all of them after they had visited the breakfast buffet carrying back a plate of prunes to assist their internals and I imagined that they would sit around after breakfast and the topic of conversation would be how their bowels are working this morning.
The Conference, for me, was two sessions, Morning and Afternoon and each went for ninety minutes. In both my sessions there were 60+ delegates and I had a real good time. There were people from all backgrounds and it was very interesting to try and connect with them with a little bit of banter about the cricket and my accent and I found them a very easy audience to work with. I can be quite challenging at times but they got over it very quickly and responded well to my sessions.
At Lunchtime there was something different. There were about 300 people there for the day and as I looked at the list there were only about two or three national charities represented as I guess most of them think that Torquay is not really close enough to London to worry about and so this vast number of people represented organisations like; a historic cinema and a heritage listed railway line, a local drug rehabilitation agency run by a couple who are ex addicts, and happy to tell me about it, there was the very senior gent who is raising money for a Christian Guest House and an animal refuge who have just lost their funding and their building and wondering which way to turn next. So it wasn't the usual conference timetable.
For half an hour before lunch they had a demonstration by ‘the Beacons Wheelchair Dancers’. The Beacons have been together as a team for something like 20 years and have a range of ages from what seemed to me about 16, a young woman in an electric wheelchair right up to a very ripe age of possibly nearly 80. They performed dances from ballroom styles to formation sequences. With such a variety of ages and disabilities, wheelchair styles from electric to hand propelled ones to some that were very new and very old there seemed at first to be a little bit of uncoordination and lack of togetherness. I was sitting close to the front and taking this all in congratulating them in my head for their ability to be ‘out there’ and doing it in style despite their disability. However it really took on new meaning for me when it was announced that Sue Cummins, the organizer and Debbie Pickerson would ‘sign’ a song for us. Sue although in a wheelchair is very articulate and has eye and hand movements in line with some professional entertainers and although confined generally to a wheelchair does it very well. They both started left stage and came on together and did a few turns to the introduction before they started their signing. Debbie on the other hand I judged to be about 18-20, not in a wheelchair but with severe Cerebral Palsy. It appeared that her ‘staggering across the floor’ would not be conducive to ‘signing’ but they took their places and ‘signed’ to the theme from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves; ‘All I do, I do for you’.
As this song progressed I was transfixed by this brave young woman who with all the difficulties of her life was able to get out their and entertain this large group of people and obviously enjoyed the experience. Disability is really in the minds of those who arrogantly see themselves as normal.
I had had a few emotional weeks recently where the tears have come very easily, nothing dramatic but I guess a little tired and emotional day when again I looked for Edith at the Memorial Service last Sunday, but on this occasion as Debbie’s ‘gangly’ presentation took place I was literally transfixed and moved significantly at this young woman’s powerful demonstration of overcoming adversity. I do not think that I was alone in that audience when the tears started to run down my cheeks but I just could not take my eyes off her. I was so impressed.
I would like to think that I have always had an appreciation of disability, ever since the days of Noweung in Bairnsdale where I taught Religious Instruction to the kids of this handicapped association, and working with Cory Hopkins at Muscular Dystrophy in Adelaide but this was something that almost made me feel insignificant in comparison to the achievements of this beautiful young woman.
Thank you Debbie! For allowing me to see again that I am just a small part of the universe and that people like you have a far more significant place in it than I could ever hope to have.
It was a great day.
Twelve months passed and the Torbay Council asked if I would go back and do a plenary presentation about being ‘Motivated for Fundraising’ to the whole group. I was using the illustration that there are times when some activity can spark the emotions enough to encourage people to support and, because we were in the same venue as the Beacon Wheelchair dancers used the previous year, I used them as an illustration. I asked the group who was there last year and who had seen the Beacon Wheelchair Dancers last year? There were quite a number of people who put up their hands and so I asked them if they were as moved as I was and most of the people called out their agreement.
At the conclusion of my presentation there were a few questions and then I saw the woman with the Microphone waving her hand for one last question. It was Sue Cummins from the Dance Group. Her question was ‘Is it too late to have an appeal now? Of course it was a long time ago but I had to answer that it is never too late and I happened to have £20 note in my Jacket pocket and so I simply stepped to the edge of the platform and placed it on the floor and asked people to join me during morning tea. I then left the stage and my moment in the spotlight was over.
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I received a letter from the Finance Officer of the Torbay Council a week or so later and he informed me that quite a number of people had joined me and a significant sum had been reached.
All I had to do was ‘ask’!
