History about fundraising for the hydrotherapy pool

History Notes

After researching a family history for most of this week I decided that a change was needed. Twenty plus years ago Barraba was raising money for a hydrotherapy pool and I wonder who remembers the donation made by three of our older citizens.

To quote the press of the time "it started out as a joke and finished up with three disabled men riding motorised scooters from Barraba to Tamworth." The three riders - Grahame Rice, Bill McDouall and Bill Henshaw- decided it could be done and set about gathering the equipment they would need together with a support crew.

The batteries were only expected to last for about 30 kilometres before needing to be re-charged and so they needed chargers and of course food and drinks and somewhere to rest if needed.

They set out early on the Tuesday morning and were in Manilla for lunch and I suspect a rest as they all suffered disabilities. The group kept going each day and were able to reach the Tamworth Hydrotherapy Pool at 2pm on the third day. The scooters behaved very well with no breakdowns, no punctures and did not exceed any speed limits.

The general public were very generous with donations and assistance and a donation of almost one third of that required to finish the pool was presented to the committee.

The cuttings in the scrap-book include three different photos of the trio mounted on their bikes with an assortment of signs and advertisements. Two riders wore hats while Graeme Rice had a full hood to keep the sun off him.

Sadly, we have lost all three of these intrepid riders but I don't think that today's traffic would be able to handle motor scooters creeping along the main road to Tamworth - just imagine a "B double" passing by!