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The venue for this uniquely inclusive event was again the airfield at Dalton Barracks, Abingdon in Oxfordshire. The hosts were the Time Lords MCC working together with the volunteer staff and the young people from the Station Youth Club. We managed to arrange the same weather that we had last year (sunshine then rain then sunshine then rain!) What we didn’t duplicate from last year was the number of people attending. This year we tripled the overall attendance, and doubled the number of young people with disabilities taking part! What a buzz!
The main idea behind this event is that we can demonstrate how easy it is to ‘include’ rather than put up all sorts of barriers (physical and emotional) needed to ‘exclude’. If the ignorant and unaware in society could have all come along to the Green Hamster and seen for themselves the total acceptance and inclusion of over 70 young people with disabilities they could have learnt a very valuable lesson.
I choose to use the element of ‘fun’ as a tool to educate, and the Green Hamster is manic, very wet, colourful, loud, full of social issues being addressed, but most importantly, loads and loads of fun!
Anyone who has set up events or rallies knows only too well that stress levels can get pretty high, especially when you have either no, or very few, staff or volunteers. I have been in that situation since last Xmas and if it hadn’t been for the members of our bike club this event would not have happened. Evenings and week-ends for several members of the Time Lords was helping me and the youngsters build the fantastic ‘vehicles’ to be used on this crazy Community Challenge. When all of the vehicles were finally completed we had; the Starship ‘Inclusion’ , a giant yellow Army boot, a Model T Ford, a wedge-shaped dragster, and (as every good event should have one) an 8’ black shark! On the day there were 12 vehicles of all shapes and sizes taking part including the ‘Flintstones’ car brought along by the Royal Navy team. Funny thing with this team of Stone Age juniors is that as soon as they got underway they threw away their plastic dinosaur bones and cardboard clubs and let loose with multi-coloured ginormous water pistols hidden under their animal skins! I knew we should have frisked the little buggers!
Our Youth Club had been like a giant workshop for months and for basic safety reasons I could not open it for generic youth work. Instead I ran special ‘Green Hamster Project Building’ sessions whereby all the young people who wanted to learn something about construction techniques, disability issues, teamwork and so on came along and got stuck in. Everything we did was done after consultation with the youngsters. They came up with the ideas, we all discussed the practicalities and safety issues involved and then with a mutually acceptable solution everyone set about building all sorts of odd stuff needed for the event. In particular I had a group of girls from the Barracks here, and a group of boys from Shrivenham Station about 25 miles away, who came in regularly and worked very hard to get things sorted. On one particular night we had 11 different nationalities working side by side in my Youth Club. We had Canadian, Fijian, Nepalese, German, British, French, Polish, Saudi Arabian and so on. A wonderful mixture of fun and culture.
On these special Project sessions it was only through the support of members of the Time Lords that we managed to keep things happening. Some of our guys came down on week-ends, evening sessions and sometimes during the day when they could get off work. This in itself introduced the aspects of mutual support, disability issues, and biker culture to the youngsters. During these sessions we often talked to them about the NABD and why we are all members, and why we believe in what the NABD strive to achieve. Their level of understanding has now increased considerably.
On the day of the event the teams came in from all over including Yorkshire, Gloucester, Oxford, Portsmouth, Gosport and of course sunny Abingdon.
On the site we counted over 17 different nationalities on site and just about every aspect of disability you can think about. Not just there but taking part! Several of the races, and other games, had entrants comprising totally of disabled young people. They all took part, gave it their best shot, felt totally included and accepted, and were treated exactly the same as every other youngster on site. No ‘special’ treatment, no patronising attitudes, just total inclusion from everyone on site.
We had the NABD stall on site with us again and thanks to Jules and Chris for coming along and helping out on the day (I think young Alex should have dried out by now!) We all had a memorable Sunday after the main event squeezing the water out of over 1500 sponges so they could be packed away and used next year! Helping us out with marshals and the ‘Scrutineers Crew’ were the good people from the Ridgeway MCC who really dug me out of a tight spot when my own team was depleted by illness. Everyone got stuck in to a variety of tasks from filling 50 gallon steel barrels with water, putting signs out and setting up the games. Special thanks go to Sgt Dale Knight from 3 Regt. Families Office and his good lady Julie who just never seemed to stop! Many thanks to them all for turning up and getting stuck in!
My gov’nor, Colonel Peter Villalard, the Head honcho of the Army Welfare Service, was there again this year to present the trophies and to say a few words about the ethos of the event. He spoke to just about everyone and was very impressed with their positive responses. We also had eminent military figures on site from other bases and from the letters I have received back from them they obviously think what we are doing is valuable and worthwhile.
The NABD is now well known to some very senior Army guys in this part of the world. NABD are respected for their aims to assist and support disabled bikers, and events like the Green Hamster will always promote the NABD in a positive light.
Roll on next year for Green Hamster 3!
Beemer of the Time Lords
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