MARIANNE O’MALLEY reports on a ‘boot camp’ that inspires disabled people to push out the barriers
Jacqueline Pardy is terrified. Her grey eyes widen in disbelief as she looks at the 30ft high mobile wall she has to climb.
For the wheelchair-bound woman, scaling this obstacle is a mammoth task. Mary Hart, Jacqueline’s helper from the Cheshire Home in Sligo, comforts her. “Jackie, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”
Brian and ‘Aussie’, members of the Irish Air Corps, busy themselves with safety ropes and harnesses. They have spent the last 10 minutes explaining the procedure and reassuring her. It’s up to Jacqueline now.
She hesitates, then gives a nod and the lads spring into action. Within minutes, Jacqueline is harnessed up and ready to leave her wheelchair. With her good hand, she reaches for a handhold. Brian cranks the hoist, levering her up to within grabbing distance of the next handhold, and so she starts.
Painstakingly, Jacqueline inches up the wall. At 15ft, the cheering starts from those around her and her pace quickens.
A final stretch and she’s reached the summit. She throws her head back and roars with absolute delight.
It’s day five of the annual Cheshire Adventure and Motivational Project (CAMP) at the Mount Melleray Scout Centre, Cappoquin, Co Waterford, where people with severe and multiple physical disabilities do things that in the ordinary course of their lives are beyond their wildest dreams. Jackie’s achievement is an everyday miracle here. The project was originally organised and run by volunteers from the Irish Air Corps for residents of the Cheshire Homes in Ireland.
It has now grown through word of mouth to include family and friends, who also help out. But the ethos and attitude remains firmly within the Air Corps where nothing is impossible if you work together.
Each person with a disability is assigned the help they need depending on their degree of disability, usually one person but sometimes two or three helpers.
Then they are assigned to teams, called syndicates. The six syndicates have been composed and balanced to support the needs of every member. These are pitted against each other in a daunting programme of challenges including raft-build, racing, canoeing, falconry, sensory awareness challenges in dark and muddy fields at night as well as artistic expression in wood-carving and performance.
Discos, camp-fires, sing-songs and barbecues also take place for the 145 participants living life at turbo speed where exhaustion vies with exhilaration in extremely basic conditions. The unrelenting agenda tests the mettle of everyone.
Barriers and pretensions erode as participants discover something that many of us never acknowledge - we all need help.
Peter Coonan, a 22-year-old economics student from Dublin, explains his feelings as he feeds Paddy Burton, a 52-year-old resident of the Ardeen Cheshire Home in Shillelagh. “This is my first time volunteering on CAMP and I wanted to run away the first day after meeting Paddy. All I saw was his disability and I didn’t think I could look after him.”
Paddy nods and smiles in sympathy and indicates he wants his chart. Peter reaches behind the wheelchair, grabs the chart and holds it under Paddy’s face, using his nose as a pointer.
Paddy spells out ‘M-A-D’, nodding towards Peter. They erupt in peals of laughter.
“He’s a hero, an absolute star. We’re both knackered, but we’re having so much craic this week. We’re on the go from 7am until well after midnight. It’s tough, really tough,” says Peter. “But Paddy and the other participants have taught me so much. My life is changed forever. I’m lucky to be here.”
Forget the old-fashioned model of charitable do-gooders where people with disability have things done ‘for’ and ‘to’ them.
What makes this week so special for everyone is the sense of liberation and equality. It’s like a highly organised boot camp with the inspirational philosophy of Deepak Chopra. And John Brophy, who works in aircraft maintenance in the Air Corps, is its unlikely guru.
The tall, energetic native of Roscrea, explains that the traditional association between the Air Force and Cheshire Homes goes back to the Second World War when Leonard Cheshire, an RAF Group Captain, started the first Cheshire Home for injured veterans in the UK.
A man of action rather than rhetoric, John is slightly uneasy with the honours now being heaped on CAMP.
“There’s no mystery or magic about what we do. We apply our military training to CAMP. It’s that simple. I suppose there’s an added urgency about how we try to fill every hour of every day with new experiences,” he says.
“Many of the participants don’t have as much time left as we do, their time is more valuable than ours.”
A small committee, led by John, give their time throughout the year, persuading sponsors to supply food and equipment, and raising the necessary cash.
“The Cheshire Homes are great supporters of CAMP. They bought us the mobile climbing wall this year and we’re planning to use it in mini-CAMPs for people too frail to attend this residential CAMP,” says John.
But his greatest appreciation goes to the Permanent Defence Forces and his own general officer commanding (GOC), Brigadier General Ralph James.
“CAMP just wouldn’t happen without all their help and support,” he says.
Today, Brigadier General Ralph James has flown from Baldonnell in one of two Alouette helicopters so that each participant can experience the thrill of helicopter flight. He is given a rapturous welcome, and no wonder.
This truly inspired gift from the Air Corps to CAMP shows an understanding that, for people who face so many obstacles in ordinary life and for whom even a trip to the local shop is often impossible, the chance to swoop and soar above hills and streams is a mesmerising taste of freedom.
Paddy Scully, who has been on every CAMP since they started 19 years ago, returned from his flight with a huge grin and said, “I’m going to be 50 in January and that is the best thing I’ve ever done.”
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