Stoke Mandeville summary thread.

[delta1]

I'm just going to dump a few pics etc in here at the moment, then tidy it up once I've got the core of it pasted.

Watch this space......

[delta1]

This is Terry's post that kicked the whole thing off; 17th June 2007.

" I went to Stoke Mandeville today..
...and came away thoroughly ashamed of myself.

I was ashamed that, as I drove into the hospital sports complex, the magnificent, state-of-the-art building on my left contrasted so starkly with the leaky, draughty, smelly, 1940s Nissen hut on my right that housed the disabled shooters.

I was ashamed that, as a representative of my sport, I hadn't been aware of this disgraceful disparity between the facilities enjoyed by other disabled sports people, and those endured by the disabled shooters.

I was ashamed as I studied the 'facilities' the disabled shooters have, the leaking toilets, the lack of heating, the buckets meant for the collection of funds now pressed into service as drip-catchers and many other things I can't publicise.

I was ashamed that this is the national centre for disabled shooters, from where our representatives at the Paralympic Games and other championships must come - and somehow do, despite the awful state of the place.

Most of all, though, I was deeply ashamed of the times I've moaned and bleated about my own medical problems over the past year, when all around me were people of all ages enjoying their sport and staying positive, with only a fraction of the advantages I have, and so many more challenges than I've ever faced.

I was horrified, angry, despairing and frustrated in turn, as was my colleague, Nigel Allen, Bill Sanders of Air Arms and Peter Martineau of BSA, all of us there on behalf of the Airgun Manufacturers and Traders Association. We all spoke at length to the shooters and the officials from their Association, in an effort to find out more about the situation and what was needed to improve it.

After an hour or two I noticed something; none of the disabled people were moaning about things, they just got on with their shooting. I mentioned this to a shooter and what he said brought tears to my eyes. He told me 'most of us have serious stuff to think about just to do the things everyone else takes for granted. We generally don't have the time and energy to complain, we just get on with it - and that's probably why we get treated like we do. Another fact of our lives, is that many of us won't be around long-term, so we don't want to waste the time we have on negative things.'

The tears came when I discovered that a lady I'd interviewed a couple of years ago, Isobel Newstead, had passed away in January. Isobel was a fantastic person and a seriously talented shooter, and I'd managed to get some sponsorship sorted out for her a while back. To hear that she had died was a real shock and I just couldn't bring myself to talk to her husband, who was helping out at the shoot.

We came away from Stoke Mandeville with a resolution to do what we could, and what we should, for these shooters. We're not sure what that will be, but we're determined to make a difference somehow or other.

Actually, we can all do something; if you're going to the CLA Game Fair, look out for people collecting for the Disabled Shooters Association, and drop what you can into their buckets. Every penny goes directly toward this fantastic cause, and believe me it needs all the help it can get.

Thanks for reading this, and above all, enjoy your shooting and be grateful that you can do so to the full. Just spare a thought, and a few quid, for those that aren't so lucky.

All the best. "

[delta1]

This is the Stoke facilities/sports building

This is the Disabled Target Shooters of Great Britain building.

Spot the difference yet?

[delta1]

An inspection visit in early June 2007 revealed plenty to do, including an asbestos roof sporting a considerable collection of holes.

Financial collections were taking place in many different places, at events, shoots, by donations, and any other way anyone could think of to raise the significant amount needed to simply make the building watertight.

Make no mistake, the Shooters had pools of water inside their building!

[delta1]

Terry D posted this on 12.07.07

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that, at yesterday's meeting with the Airgun Manufacturer's and Traders Association, it was unanimously agreed that a sum of £15,000 would be donated to the appeal. This is designed to kick-start the refurbishing programme as soon as the estimates are in.

Furthermore, the organisors of the Midland Game Fair immediately pledged a further £1000, plus a whole range of fundraising options which are incredibly promising.

So, that's £16k in the kitty, plus the kind donations already received, which means we'll soon be making noise and replacing stuff. Lobberman is getting the estimate for the roof on Wednesday, after which it's all systems go.

[delta1]

Donations continued to come in from Shooters, Clubs, organisations, all types of generous people dug in to help.

Then on 12.10.07 the roof works started, with the scaffolding to protect the sprayers who were to seal the roof.

Picture 1

Picture 2

[snock]

The work began back in 2007, I think it was. In fact, it was 2 years and 1 week ago when Terry first bought the plight of the DTSGB to our attention.

To understand what kind of context all this work is in, it must be understood that the timber-built ranges date back from circa 1942 when they were used as wards for burns victim soldiers that couldn't be treated in the field. The building had suffered from decomposition of some timbers; leaked like a sieve; was draughty; had vegetation growing in from outside, and has basic WC equipment. It also smelled very musty.

This is where the Great British National Paralympic squad train, remember.

The back walls were larch lap and asbestos-clad over stud framed construction. Both desperately needed replacing because they were rotting away, allowing vegetation to grow in.

We ripped out all the larch lap and asbestos* (*under contractor) cladding as well as all the stud work on both walls. These have been completely replaced with new materials, insulated, and re-clad with exterior graded, preserved ply. This has been, by far, the largest job that we've undertaken, taking about 12 people an entire weekend working from ~08:00 to well after dark on both days.

Then we have painted the walls, fitted hot air hand dryers, ripped out rooms and made them fit for re-use for different purposes.

The roof used to leak like a tennis racquet. There was a build up of 60+ years of gunge, silt and vegetation trapped in the roof's gulley system. We've cleared all this and treated it with a resin-based sealant. The roof has been okay since, but before it was leaking so bad that there were upto 5 buckets placed underneath the leaks to collect it all. These buckets also doubled as collection buckets.

There has been all kind of works undertaken, but there's still a long way to go.
Anyone wishing to donate their time or money will experience the very satisfying feeling that we have all had from this project.

It's for shooters by shooters!!

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00381.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00385.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00384.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00371.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00391.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00391.jpg
http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/j...r/DSC00402.jpg