An honour and a privilege to support my good friends over at Pace Rehabilitation

Last month I got a message from none other than QuiggoldI thought he may have been inviting me to some Jedi get together, however, this was not to be the case. Quiggold aka Scott Richardson is Pace Rehab's PR Guru and he was, in fact, asking if I wouldn't mind supporting both himself and Toby Carlson up in Edinburgh. Toby being Pace's expert witness and director. 

Demonstrating adaption for my job role and being able to kneel behind patients

Scott informed me that Pace had arranged a presentation for a Law firm named Road Traffic Accident Law Scotland(RTALS LLP) and their associates. These guys are specialists in Road Traffic Accident Compensation, their mission statement being "We don't just make the difference, we are the difference". 

Of course, I wasn't going to refuse, as by now you will know if you have ever read my Blog, just how supportive Pace has been to me over the years, and it is always a real pleasure to give something back and help out where I can.

The presentation was up in Edinburgh, bonus a nice ride out to a beautiful place. I love Scotland. As usual, I brought my chauffeur, my dear old dad Ern. Well, I needed his car as I didn't think my bike would fit in my Smart Car and I didn't fancy having a go at trying to get it into "Grandma" my Beetle. Far better to bring Ern's mobile skip.

Getting back to the ride up, we made excellent time, in fact, we were a tad early so pulled over for a short break on the way up. Scott had informed me the presentation was to start around 11:00am and finish around 13:30'ish...No worries I thought. Well, that was until we got into the centre of Edinburgh. Dear me it was chaos, so much construction going on. What with roads closed, diversions in place oh and a Sat Nav woman trying to direct up roads and lanes that were closed off. Oh and then there were the taxi's, 6 wheeler buses, trams and irritate pedestrians.

After thinking we were where we needed to be I gave the number Scott had provided me with a call and spoke to Jodi, one of the ladies we were presenting to a call. Bless her she did her utmost to direct us. Apparently, we were only 2 blocks away. Jodi recommended we look for Hanover Street I think it was called, so I popped this in the Sat Nav and off we went doing a complete loop of Edinburgh. We finally got to where the Sat Nav lady told us we needed to be, and bloody hell the road was closed. So around we went again, quite the tour of Edinburgh may have been fun if not for time constraints .

Eventually, we arrived up by the Statue of George somebody or other, sure he is famous I just didn't have time for a history lesson. By this time I was a little stressed and back on the phone to Jodi. Jodi then did a splendid job of directing us around this maze of narrow back streets to get to where we needed to be. I was really impressed. Thank god Ern did come with me as I am terrible at directions and would never have found the place.

Both Scott and Toby firstly gave their presentation and when it was my turn they gave me the nod and I just had to wing my bit. Basically briefly explaining my journey, a little about provision and support, and the various prosthetics I have encountered. I also mentioned my thoughts on elective amputation, versus traumatic and the process of recovery and rehabilitation. I then went on to do a little bit of demonstration using my everyday Rheo XC and my BTK Crossover upon my bike.

Toby Explaining what Pace offers and the process

Toby and a captive audience

Scott doing his thing

Rotating my ankle

Talking about the importance of socket fit

At the end of the presentation it was really nice to chat have the opportunity to chat to a few of the people who attended and get some lovely feedback, which is always good for the soul and kind of gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling, you know like you may have left a little impression or at least a good one on  Pace's behalf.

Demoing BTK Crossover usage/ability

Upon our ride home Scott messaged me and said one of the ladies in attendance had actually said to him, and I am sure she won't mind me quoting her, "I have been doing this job for longer than I care to remember and can honestly say that was the best presentation I have seen".

It's the little things that people can say and do that make a big difference.

A huge thank you to everyone in attendance, especially for all your kind words, it was a real pleasure meeting you all, sorry I didn't get to talk to everyone at the end. 

Big thank you to Jodi Gordon for her images and video clips