Last Wednesday, our honorary member Barry Lea visited our club to reminisce about the early days of our 'Rough Terrain' wheelchairs, back in the mid-nineties. Barry hasn't changed a bit; he is still the same, relaxed, laid-back gentleman as he was 30 years ago. I can't even say that he has a bit less hair than he had then ☺...!
It was around 1995 when Des La Rance OAM, on a holiday to Fiji, became aware of severely disabled children who had no facilities for mobility of any sort. A lot of brain power, experimenting and drafting resulted in the concept of using the discarded bicycles and some plywood to manufacture a wheelchair for... (at that time) less than $100! Barry, before retirement a highly successful Insurance Broker, contacted some of his clients, obtained a very low-rent factory, and so the construction phase started in earnest. Then they suffered a fire. Another factory was found, this time in Ashmore, and - unbelievably - it also burned down (both overnight). Still, the team persisted, and eventually, the first prototypes were ready to show to the world.
At the Rotary District 9640 Conference in 1997, Ray Martin from Channel 9's 'A Current Affair' was one of the keynote speakers. Our member Ian Mayberry, who was also instrumental in these early development stages, managed to get Ray to view our prototype display, and he promptly promised to send a camera crew. And so he did, and ultimately, as the saying goes, the rest is history. There is a write-up of that delivery of the first 10 wheelchairs to Fiji in the Downloads section of our website, and there is also a Photo Album. In July last year, Channel 9 broadcast a follow-up- click here to view. So much material, so little space. Anyone wants to take up the challenge and write a book about it?
Photo: At Brisbane Airport, before departure to Fiji. (l-r) John Withers, Barry Lea, Franz Huber, Conrad Martens, Des La Rance (front), Ian Mayberry (rear with hat), Graeme Isaacson, John Appleton. Special mention: John Appleton's company Apple Marketing made the inflow of financial donations possible, by opening a 1800 number in his call centre with just two hours' notice!