3rd February 2012

ILMINSTER: Sixties night to support local family

By Marion Draper

EXPERIENCED fundraisers who normally organise country music nights for the Children’s Hospice South West charity are organising a special 60s dance to help a local family.

Sergeant George Pas, a member of the 6th Battalion the Rifles, was seriously injured in a road accident last year, when a car pulled out in front of his motorbike. He is still recovering from surgery. A civilian lorry driver before the incident, and now confined to a wheelchair with no use of his legs and very weak arms, Mr Pas would love to have a set of wheels that will enable him to retain some quality of life with his wife Emma and their three children.

Fundraisers Carol and Doug Rogers want to raise as much as they can as a contribution towards two specialist wheelchairs which will cost over £20,000. They have organised a dance with popular local group Old Dogz New Trix of which Emmaís uncle Graham Barnes is a member. It will be held in Broadway Village Hall on Saturday, May 5th.

Mr and Mrs Rogers know the family through their fundraising connections with Cricket St Thomas Hotel where Emma’s mother, Lynn Barnes, is the functions organiser.

Due to his military connection, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) has been helping the family, supporting George’s wife Emma and helping her with bills while he was away in hospital and paying for petrol for the sometimes three trips a day she had to make while he went through the many surgeries.

Sergeant Pas has been home for six weeks but the whole family are having to uproot and leave their house in Ilminster which is unsuitable for a wheelchair and move to a bungalow in Chard to function more normally. Currently Emma has to sleep on a couch in the only room downstairs that George can be in, in case he needs help.

A “squaddy” at heart, his military training has kept George very positive despite his injuries and he is determined to try and take the pressure off his family by becoming as independent as possible. He said that the NHS motorised chair will not help him move forward because even though it is motorised it is too heavy for his weakens arms to push. Determined also to get back behind a wheel, a lightweight chair would help build his arms and could also be dismantled, so he could get in and out of a car on his own.

The second chair would be an electric all-terrain model that can have two extra wide wheels and become a four wheel drive to go over rough ground.

George said: “The body isn’t designed to sit all day, I need to try and move as much as I can. I used to take the kids and the dog to the beach and the new chair would enable me to do that again. They have had so much to deal with, I want life to be as normal as possible again. The chair also has a hydraulic lift so I can rise up in it.

“Emma and the kids have been so great, she is only 33 and now with me, essentially has four children to cope with. Our eldest, Dana, is only ten and she has been helping a lot, she shouldn’t have to be my carer. When I was in hospital, she was doing her homework on my bed and I always made sure the children saw me being hoisted in before they left, so it wouldn’t be a scary sight when I came home.”

The couple will be getting the keys to their bungalow on Valentine’s Day and want to move in with the bare basics straight away so they will all be on the same level. The same day, Sergeant Pas will be attending the planting of a tree in memory of Rifleman Mark Marshall, who was killed in Afghanistan on February 14th 2010, and whom he had trained.

Tickets for the fundraising sixities night can be obtained from Carol Rogers on 01935 881510. Doors will open at 7pm and it will be a bring your own drinks and nibbles. There will also be a raffle.

PICTURE: KEEPING POSITIVE - Lynn Barnes, Carol and Doug Rogers, Graham Barnes, George, Piper and Emma Pas with Piper

ILMINSTER: Sixties night to support local family

ILMINSTER: Sixties night to support local family

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