Hendy supports Toe in the Water

Date

November 21, 2011

Full Story

Toe in the Water is a small, south coast based tri-service charity which does one really simple thing – it uses competitive sailing to re-inspire profoundly and traumatically injured service personnel to see beyond their injuries – and Chris Herbert knows because he’s one of them.

An extract from his blog is here:

My name is Chris Herbert and I was referred to Toe in the Water in August 2008 after my leg was blown off by an IED in Iraq in 2007, when I was just 19 years old. In the same incident, my best mate was killed and my life was turned upside down. When my physiotherapist suggested my rehab would benefit from going racing with Toe in the Water, I laughed and told her that sailing was not for a young squaddie from Barnsley. But she was right, and I have never looked back.

Competitive sailing was much harder than I expected, and it challenged me both physically and mentally far more than I could ever have imagined. But the best thing about it for me was being able to be back in a team again, as I think that’s the bit I missed most after I got injured. To be back in a group of lads (and girls) all working towards the same goal was awesome and the adrenalin rush from racing with and against able-bodied people was fantastic – I felt like I quite literally had fireworks going off in my head and I felt really alive again.

Being reminded of what I could do, rather than focusing on what I couldn’t or had lost was just what I needed and it really kick-started my attitude to rehab – one of the doctors has even nicknamed what Toe in the Water do as ‘rehab by stealth’!

Perhaps most importantly it’s also helped me work out what I want to do with my life, and a few weeks ago I started a degree course in Marketing at Portsmouth University – not bad for a squaddie from Barnsley who left school with no qualifications!

Although I’ll never serve overseas in an operational capacity again, I have continued to serve as a part time soldier with the Territorial Army working directly with the young officer cadets at Southampton and Portsmouth Universities. The values that you hold dear as part of the military – team spirit, shared goals, partnerships – are embodied by Toe in the Water, not only in their racing on the water, but in everything they do and by all the relationships and partnerships that go on behind the scenes to make their work possible. Like Hendy Group.

As one of the injured servicemen who has already benefitted and on behalf of all those still to follow me, I would like to thank Hendy Group for their support.

Private Chris Herbert

 

To find out more about this fantastic initiative, please see click here