When my wheelchair was ready, I drove to Gerald Simonds Healthcare’s new showroom and workshop in Aylesbury to collect it. Without realising it at the time, I was making a small piece of history. I became the very first wheelchair user to collect a Quickie wheelchair from Gerald’s new premises. In fact, the concrete on the access ramp outside had only dried the day before, a story I shared with Gerald many years later, who confirmed that it was indeed correct after checking his records.
The day I brought the wheelchair home, I transferred out of it and simply sat looking at it in disbelief for what seemed like ages. After years of using heavy, standard-issue wheelchairs, I could hardly believe that I finally owned one of the most advanced wheelchairs available at the time.
It wasn’t just a new wheelchair – it represented a new level of freedom and independence. For me, it marked the beginning of a new era of lightweight, high-performance wheelchairs that would go on to transform the lives of countless wheelchair users.
Coincidentally, at the time of my injury, a new generation of modern, lightweight rigid-frame wheelchairs was on the verge of transforming mobility for wheelchair users. It was an exciting period of innovation, and I was fortunate to benefit from a design revolution that would fundamentally change expectations of what a wheelchair could be.
Interestingly, Marilyn Hamilton, who had herself become paralysed following a hang-gliding accident in 1978, drew on her experience of hang gliding and her knowledge of aircraft materials to design a wheelchair that was lighter, stronger, and far more responsive than the heavy hospital-style chairs of the time. With the help of friends, she developed what became the first Quickie wheelchair, which was launched in 1980—the same year as my own accident.
It wasn’t until 1986 that Sunrise Medical acquired Quickie Wheelchairs internationally and brought distribution into the UK, making these revolutionary wheelchairs far more widely available to British users. My own Quickie was supplied through Gerald Simonds Healthcare, one of Sunrise Medical’s authorised dealers.
Looking back over the past four and a half decades, I have witnessed a transformation that few could have imagined – from heavy, chrome-plated hospital wheelchairs weighing around 23 kg to today’s lightweight, highly adjustable machines made from advanced alloys and carbon fibre.
For me, it has been an extraordinary ride. I have been fortunate not only to witness this evolution but to experience it first-hand. Each new chair represented another step towards greater freedom, independence and opportunity.
