Hertingfordbury Parish News: July 2002
The Stannards's of Birch Green Jubilee Parade Experience
We reached the Motability office at Harlow at 10am and there I was loaded onto a wheelchair-accessible coach, which was supplied by a disabled football supporters' club. As soon as we were all on board, we were given goody bags full of food and drink. We were all getting excited at this point and a little nervous. Then off we went to London; there were many roads closed off as we got close to the dropping-off point. We had to go quite a long way round to get to our destination; we finally reached there about 12.30pm. The wheelchair passengers were unloaded and then the rest of us, which consisted of Mobility staff, customers and their families. Then we were taken to the meeting place where more staff from the London office and Tanni GreyThompson met us. We seemed to be waiting about for ages, but after a photo shoot we were off to meet the vehicles, which were in the parade with us. First, we had to wait until the Notting Hill carnival had passed. It was very spectacular and colourful. Then after that we were almost ready, all the wheelchairs had banners and balloons attached to them and all of our children and the adults who were talking were put on to a trailer, with a concept car, a very futuristic car with lots of gadgets on it. Nearly all the other cars in our parade were wheelchair accessible. All the wheelchairs were told to keep in a line with each other. Now we could hear the crowds shouting and screaming, it sounded like a roaring noise as there were so many people standing along the Mall. There were flags waving, cameras flashing, video cameras everywhere, and the great sound of the bands. There were also wide screens all along the Mall, from which you could see what was going on in front of us. The atmosphere gave me a boost to carry on wheeling myself in my wheelchair until my arms became weak, and then Jean my wife had to push me. We have never felt this great for ages. Even the children were enjoying themselves waving on the lorry. A bit further along in the procession we got closer to the bands and we could see the Queen standing in a covered stand with seats in. At this point we were very nervous and excited, we had never been this close to the Queen before. This was a once in a lifetime experience that my family and I will never forget. Peter Stannard I would like to thank everyone who helped make the Jubilee party at Birch Green a big success. A thank you to everybody who donated food and drink. Thanks to Heather Baxter for the use of electricity and toilet facilities, Julia Keily for running the Face Painting, Doreen and Harry for helping to set up and organise our music, Liza Herbert for the great obstacle course, and a big thank you to Rev'd Rosemary and husband Joe for judging the Fancy Dress. Thank you to everyone for making a happy, memorable occasion. Jean StannardPlease note: Although the Hertingfordbury Parish News is produced by St. Mary's PCC, the opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the PCC.