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Make my day, punk!!
These are about the last photos of me standing (and in case you are worried about the gun, it's a laser "shotgun" used to fire at reflective clay pigeons), taken just over a week before the crash in the Lake District
I am 57 (6 January), married, 2
children, 5 grand
children, 3
dogs and from 16th
January 2009 3
chickens and on the 2nd of
February 1996 I had a car
crash.
At the time of the crash I lived
about 10 miles from Gloucester, England in a small village
called Longhope. The
cottage I lived
in with my family is
on a hill and
overlooks the Forest of
Dean.
for photographs and maps, click
here.
Unfortunately
the cottage
was not
wheelchair-friendly and
I
moved first
to Westward Ho! and then to Ancaster
in
Lincolnshire to
be
back near
family again.
Then on 12th
January 2005 we
moved to a nice
bungalow in Hougham, just down
the
road where we hope
to stay now as
it
meets all our
needs.
Hougham Village Website which I run.
We have lived in many houses so most of them are shown here - houses
In 2001 we bought a house in Cape Town, my surgeon in Gloucester was from there, but had to sell it in 2006. But we would love to return.
I was born in Leicester and lived in Oadby until I was 18 and joined the RAF. My father was one of the 2 Chemists in the village as it was then, and we lived at the shop "Ye Original Pharmacy" until I was 13, when I went to Switzerland with the school and my parents moved house while I was away! We carried on living in Oadby, 41 Fairstone Hill as the first occupants of a new house.
I was in the Scouts 16th Leicester (Oadby) - man and boy - well from the cubs at 7 through the Scouts to the Venture Scouts when I left because of enlisting in the RAF.
I left school at 17 - I was a year underage - I missed second year at Junior school - my schools were Sandhurst Street, Langmoor, Gartree and Beauchamp - and did various jobs as I was unsure of what I wanted to do with 6 O levels and 1 A level. If I had passed both A levels I was to go to Leicester Poly to study civil engineering. So I joined the Oadby Roads Department and for 6 months or so I repaired (or not) the roads and pavements around Oadby. I got bored with that so then got a job at Woolco as the washer up in the Red Grill. After that I became a packer at Rowleys before moving into my Granddad's job as Time Keeper when my Grandma became ill and he retired to look after her.
On 27th July 1971 I took the Queen's shilling (actually £2) at the Leicester CIO and on the 29th I went to RAF Swinderby for basic training, then RAF Debden for trade training - RAF Police. My postings were then 1001 SU - RAF Oakhanger (1971 to 1973), RAF Aldergrove (1973 to 1974), RAF Northolt (1974 to 1976), RAF Buchan (1976 to 1977), HQ 1 Group RAF Bawtry (1977 to 1979), P&SS Gutersloh (1979 to 1981), RAF Gutersloh (1981 to 1982), HQ 38 Group RAF Upavon (1982 to 1984, RAF Police School, RAF Newton - first as a CI Instructor (1984 to 1987, then as a Computer Security Instructor (1987 to 1990).
Car Crash
In February 1996 I was involved in a car crash and shattered both my legs. If you wish to read about the crash, and see pictures of the road where it happened, click here for details of the car crash and pictures of the car . Also linked are transcripts from the trial where the other driver was found guilty of careless driving.
Medical Treatment
If you want read about my subsequent treatment and see pictures of the Ilizarov frame and other leg, then click here for my medical details. This all ended in January 1999 with the amputation of my left leg above the knee. But in March 2000, I was diagnosed with Diabetes, which was aggravated by the crash, the trauma and the infection. (According to the Doctor I saw when diagnosed until the other side (see below) asked him, then the crash had nothing to do with it and it was all because I was overweight!!)
Civil Law Suit
The civil
legal process in the
UK took years
for my claim to be
settled, even
though the other driver
was found
guilty in
criminal court
of careless driving. The other side made an
offer,
which on the advice of
council was been
accepted,
that
if I accept
25% of the blame for the crash,
we
don't have to go to court to decide liability
- marvellous system,
isn't it?
The court date
was set for
5 - 9
March 2001 -
although
this screwed up
twice -
the Court lost the papers
and
therefore the date and then they wanted to move it
to
Winchester at 2 days notice!!!!
We settled out of court 6 March 2001 for
a smaller
amount because of the
stress on my heart, on
medical
advice. The other side had already reduced the offer on the table because of my diabetes, even though I didn't have diabetes when I had the crash and it was caused by their client. Great system isn't it?
I have discovered that I still have to buy a pair of shoes every time although I only use one. I know I don't wear them out very quickly but it seems a waste to throw away my left shoes. In Cape Town I gave them to a guy who sold Big Issues and had lost the opposite leg but over here it is not as easy to find someone. So I have set up a page 
to enable people who only use one shoe or one glove of a pair to swap with others in a similar situation with the opposite spare. Just email me a picture, details, (size, width, material etc) and an email address to steve.cattell@btinternet.com, and I will put it on this page. You can either then swap items or a one way transaction would be paying for the post and packaging.
Hobbies
I spend a lot of time on the computer as well as watching TV and doing cross stitch. Cross stitch pictures .
I no longer work after having been medically retired but before the crash I was into security, particularly computer security.towards the end and was a School Governor at my grandsons' school for 3 years until 2009. And as I said above I do a lot with the RAF Police Association so I am kept occupied. I also created and run a website for the village. Details of both sites below under links to other sites.
We decided that holidays were such a drag with ensuring the rooms and wheelchair access were ok and comfy beds etc so we go to the theatre a lot now - Nottingham, Coventry, Birmingham and London are our main spots.
I also like to write letters to the Newspapers, mainly the Daily Telegraph and the Grantham Journal now although I have done it in Gloucester, Devon and Cape Town too. The Daily Telegraph ran an article on 3rd December on their regular and published letter writers and I was included. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/6711588/Daily-Telegraph-letter-writers-Dear-Sir-we-are-not-alone-in-thinking.html
Family and Pets
My son Christopher who is an actor and who wrote
in my previous guestbook (now gone after spam) complaining about lack of a
mention
- these bloody
luvvies!!! He became a daddy last year with Ania, who is Polish but who he met in Spain when he was working there. They live not far away from us in Long Bennington.
Grandchildren
For pictures our 2 grandsons - grandsons
For pictures of our 3
granddaughters - granddaughters
Our three dogs, Spice Baby Emma, and Mollie and Mandy, our Miniature Schnauzers
and our 3 chickens - Snowdrop, Bluebell and Lilly
and my mother and brother, together with Marilyn just after Christmas 2009. He lives in New Zealand so we don't see him that often but my mother is in Wigston Fields so we see her every couple of months or so.
My Mother's 80th Birthday party
Also on Twitter - @unipede and Facebook - Steve Cattell
Links to other sites