Wheels and Wheelchairs - May 2019

Skating Fun in Battersea Park

Saturday 25th May 2019 and Wheels & Wheelchairs teamed up with Rotary Beckenham to provide Mike Martineau with an exciting experience in Battersea Park. Mike is a member of Rotary Beckenham who was struck down with bacterial meningitis last September, causing the loss of the use of his legs. 

Wheels & Wheelchairs is a charity that Rotary Beckenham supports, which brings a little speed and excitement into wheelchair users' day by taking them around Battersea Park in a specially adapted wheelchair pushed by skaters.

After the skate Mike wrote " Today was a quite exceptional and unique experience. Exhilarating and most enjoyable. I now know how such a racing wheelchair is steered. Wish I’d discovered skating when I was fit and able and it's quite perverse to enjoy skating for the very first time as a disabled person and I wouldn’t have had that wonderful experience had I not been wheelchair bound. Thanks to all of your skating friends for being so friendly and welcoming and giving us a brilliant and enjoyable morning. I’m still buzzing after an unforgettable day."

Mike was accompanied by Rotarians Dinah Scudder, Les Welsh, Peter Braithwaite (also a W&W skater) and Charles Wood and by Mike's wife Meg and Peter's wife, Tricia (who cycled the route with the skaters). Especial thanks to Charles who had the responsibility of driving everyone in the Hayes Minibus to Battersea and back.

At the end of the skate Mike was given a W&W badge as a souvenir of his ride (see photos) and the video will give our readers a sense of experience too.

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