Clapham Model Yacht Club

Douglas Dunn.

Further to my comment in the AGM Minutes, Alan and I visited Duggie today in his care home, Windmill Lodge, Lyham Road, SW2. He looks well and is quite cheerful. We saw him sitting in the lounge of the home but I do not think he can walk and the only parts of his body he can move are his left hand and arm, and his head. Unfortunately he cannot speak, or more correctly, he cannot string words together so conversation is very difficult. He can sometimes say yes or no, but gets terribly frustrated at not being able to communicate. Alan and I were able to get some information by asking questions and Duggie answering by saying yes or no, or by shaking or nodding his head, but we did get a lot of laughter from him. Having spoken to the care home staff it appears that he does not need anything, any of his needs are provided by the social services. I did take him in some sweets and chocolate bars and the last thing we saw as we left him was Duggie sorting through the bag of goodies.
I was able to ask Duggie about his boats left in the Clubhouse and whether he would like to sell them. He said he would. This does bring a problem of what to do with the money we raise. He is not allowed to have large sums of money at the home, it would have to left in the care of a social worker. His wants appear to be so few that any large sums of money could be an embarressment. I feel as a Club we should give some thought to this matter.
If there are any members of the Club interested in one or other of Duggies boats, let me know. One is a 1M “Comik” in reasonable condition, the other is a very nice powered trawler, both however are without radio transmitters but these are very cheap to buy. Should we have an auction among interested buyers? let me know.
It appears that Duggie has no relatives and few friends and that means that he has had no visitors apart from Alan and myself. Although conversation is very difficult it was quite obvious that he enjoyed seeing us, and if any other member of the Club would care to visit I am sure Duggie would be delighted to see you. Derek.