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.

I 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