BLESMA Skibob Rehabilitation 2005
Ray Holland OBE, BEM - February 2005  		 

www.blesma.org for more information.
The tranquil peace of a Saturday evening was shattered by the incessant ringing of the telephone. The call was ourChief Instructor, Chris Livett, who broke the news that there were extensive delays to car ferries bound for Calais resulting from a lack of berths in France and once again, the M20 had become a gigantic car park. Advice from P&O was that scheduled ferry times could not be guaranteed for Monday sailings and the party should arrive as early as possible on Monday morning as boats would be filled up on a first come, first served basis. As overnight stays on the outward journey had been booked, it was agreed that the road party would assemble on Sunday evening and through the good offices of Tin McSwiney, would be accommodated at the Portland Hotel in Folkestone. The first to arrive was John Falcus, a Welfare Manager from Newcastle who represented the VA. Others continued to turn up with the last arriving at 0245 hrs! All were made welcome by Tin and his staff although one very elderly member of the party was heard muttering that participants in karaoke should be reported to the Environmental Health Department or guests issued with ear defenders!

 

 

Some of the Team on the Glacier

Monday morning saw an early arrival at the Docks where large illuminated boards gave details of the delays. The usual five berths in Calais catering for P&O and Sea France Ferries had been reduced to one! We eventually embarked and were made very welcome by the Ferry staff in the Club Lounge. After further delays, we set sail in somewhat choppy seas.Much time was spent circling a Sea France ferry off Calais where we finally disembarked at 1710 hours. By this time normally we should have beenin Schevenhutte, our first overnight stay. We arrived at about 2130 hrs and for the first time, we really appreciated the value of mobile phones! As we moved South the next day, we began to encounter snow but arrived at Kempten on time. Overnight there was a large dump of snow and we had some difficulty in getting on to the main road. We had been joined overnight by Phil Watkins from Celle who, with his winter tyres, found little difficulty in negotiating the road conditions. Although not sufficiently severe for snow chains, summer tyres on vehicles were totally unsuitable. Having left the motorway at Oy/Mittleberg, the People Carrier failed to negotiate a sharp bend, damaging the side of the vehicle. With the help of several truck drivers to get the vehicle out of deep snow, we were soon on our way. The approach to the Fern Pass was hazardous but strangely the descent to Imst was relatively easy going.

You are the weakest link. Goodbye!

Wednesday afternoon was spent in getting ski passes and making arrangements to get the bobs up the mountain. The following morning the bobs were assembled and newcomers commenced instruction. The Instructors who were not teaching, were taken up the Giggijooh for reassessment. Although cold, snow conditions were good and excellent progress was made. During these two days the usual community relations were fostered with the Streiter family welcoming everyone back to Neue Post. Coffee was taken with Gilbert Pult and Thomas Scheiber of the Cable Car Company and arrangements made with Carl and Cindy for the storage of boots and personal effects on the mountain.

Continued ..
 

 

 

 

 

   Helmut Kuprian provided storage for the bobs and briefed all lift operators that ‘The Brits were back’! On Friday the Air Party arrived which included two young amputees, Barry Whale and Ray Hirst. All were fitted out with boots and equipment ready to commence bobbing in earnest the next morning. The early evening was taken up by briefing everyone with particular reference to the introduction of ‘Risk Assessments’ and increased responsibilities for all instructors. Brendan West flew out to join the party and to act as official photographer.

The core week went well with the students rapidly progressing and enjoying themselves. Inevitably, there were the usual minor spills and we had a number of problems, easily remedied, with the Stalmach Bobs. Unfortunately Phil Watkins had a spill, thought to be a ski bob failure, which resulted in damage to his stump. He spent a short period in hospital but after 5 hours was released to recuperate in the hotel. He was able to drive back to Germany but lost the opportunity to qualify for his gold badge. However, he did win something!

Phil Watkins joins the General Secretary in winning the "White Out" Trophy"

Barry Whale receives his Bronze Award.

Presentations were made on 24th February by Markus Streiter who kindly stepped in to replace Thomas Scheiber who was unable to be present. Ray Hirst, Barry Whale and
Adam Yazley received Bronze badges and certificates with John Falcus receiving an ‘Introduction to Ski Bobbing’ certificate. There were two other memorable events. Henry Wuga very kindly authorised, from Scotland, champagne to
celebrate his 81st birthday in absentia. It was the first time in many years that his birthday had not been celebrated on the slopes and we all missed not having him and Ingrid with us. Sadly, it was Mark Livett’s farewell. Mark, who is emigrating to Australia with his girlfriend, has been a stalwart of the Ski Bobbing event for some fifteen years. Not only is he our best instructor, his total commitment to BLESMA event makes him virtually irreplaceable and has endeared him to several hundred BLESMA bobbers. We wish him and Christine every good wish for the future and fervently hope we may see him back occasionally.

Our grateful thanks as always, to the Lord Sterling of Plaistow CBE, who will be retiring as Chairman of P&O shortly and who has supported this rehabilitation event for well over a decade. BLESMA owe him a great deal for his work with Motability and in particular, for his personal intervention with Government, which led to the introduction of automatic gearboxes for leg amputees. We wish him well in his retirement. Finally, we remain grateful to Chris Livett, the Chief Instructor, and Alison, Messrs Whitworth, Rouse, Baker and Burns for their assistance with instruction. Thank you too, to the HQ staff for their encouragement and help.

 The 2006 SkiBob Event location.

This will be held at the Cringleford Estate in the grounds of the Earl Ray Holland OBE, BEM