Ellie’s 11th Birthday. She is very excited and says she has a ‘cool’ tartan dress.

I have just returned from Wexham Park where I hand delivered a cheque for £49,290. There is further money to come from the gift aid and this will be handed over as soon as we get it for Her Maj’s R and C.

What I didn’t know and what makes all the difference for me, is that the Oxylog 3000 transporter ventilators are not just to be used in ambulances. They are to be used to move patients within the hospital as well. In the past it was not easy to take someone on a static ventilator for a CT. One way was to use a bag with a doctor squeezing it to regulate the air but this is arduous if the squeezing has to be kept up for any length of time and it uses more people. Now with the 3 Oxylogs they can whip people all over the shop for CT scans, X- rays, cardio inspections, all sorts. So these ventilators mean that ITU can improve the level of care they give their patients. Bloody marvelous ! And well done to everyone who gave.

I thought you’d want to know.

Duncan

11th August

The great day. The handing over of the BIG cheque, you know the 4 foot by 2 foot jobby that you see on Telethons and so forth.

Wexham Park had laid on a fabulous presentation. Everyone was there, all the surgeons, doctors, half of the ITU nursing staff (the other half were nursing the sick in ITU and swapped over at half time). It was a wonderful closure to the whole episode. And we were able to present a cheque for £50,000, much in excess of our original target and all of it allocated to the 4 machines that ITU will now buy. The Draeger Evita XL ventilator with pendant fitting to be positioned over a bed space in ITU and then 3 Oxylog 3000 transportable ventilators to go in ambulances when ITU need to move their patients to other hospitals for specialist treatment.

All the local press were present and we had persuaded London Tonight to come along and do a piece. It appeared on the 6.30 news and again at 10,30 and was a terrific piece in most respects. I had supplied them with material that we had shot on the day back in April 2006 and asked them not use the shot of the accident or the aftermath. There was plenty of good stuff showing flares alight and the deploying of them. Unfortunately for one reason or another they used the footage. I should have known better. I had handed the 'Sweet Jar' to them and they couldn't resist. So the piece is more harrowing for family than it needed to be and what was supposed to be our final act, the closure, was in rather ruined for us. Has someone got something against me - the accident, the torrid fight with the insurance company and now this ? London Tonight have apologised - easy really when you have got what you want and you want to avoid a complaint to Offcom or worse - and to their credit they have made a small donation to the ventilator fund. Apparently they are not a rich TV company. Yeah, yeah and I am told that the Queen is a bit strapped for cash. Anyway to have got a 'sorry' out them was pretty good going. The piece, nonetheless, is very good so everyone tells me. And in case you missed it I believe that one can still see it on the London Tonight website at;

http://www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?void=222322

It was all Sally's idea and what a good idea it was !

Thank you so much to all those indicuduals from around the world who gave so generously. Some of the indidual sums were enormous. And thank you to the Friends of Maltman's Green who gave the proceeds from the Summer Ball which went way over expectations. Thank you to Chiltern Shakespeare Company for giving us the proceeds from A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thank you to the Lions for the proceeds from the parking at the Dream show. Thank you to Michael Vivien and Julie Berry for putting on a Breath of Fresh Air, or 'Last Gasp' as I liked to call it. And finally thank you to Sally for unending support.

Wexham Park suggested that we might name the ventilator. I think they were thinking of a park bench style dedication. But Ellie piped up and in her ever original manner of naming stuffed toys, Giraffey, Lioney, Rabbitty, etc, suggested 'Venty'.

I think we will say "Thanks for saving Duncan's life. Sally MacDougall".

Duncan

The pudding took quite a while. When it did arrive the waiter said,

“Chef apologizes but one of the Apple Tartine’s is slightly over-caramelised”.

By which he meant ‘burnt’.

“Not to worry”, said I “when it comes to the bill you will find that payment will be slightly under-capitalised”.

By which I meant ‘short’.

Duncan