27/9/53 – 24/5/25
Les, or Sir Les, as he was referred to by his brother, Trevor, was born on Sunday 27th September 1953. It was lunchtime and Trevor, 9, was shipped out to the flat below to the neighbours, not knowing was what going on.
Eventually, the family moved to Suffolk. Les decided he wanted to become a cook so he got himself a job at Brome Grange near Diss, as a chef. He then got a job as a chef as the American airbase at R.A.F. Bentwaters. The Americans took to him right away. He lived in Leiston and would have to walk to Bentwaters, a good 9 miles! Eventually, the staff at Bentwaters realised and so they picked him up and drove him home every night.
Unfortunately, in 1989, Les contracted encephalitis, a viral infection of the brain, permenantly affecting his cognitive ability. The government policy of “Care in the Community” had closed many of the mental hospitals and asylums leaving nowhere for him to go. And so, he became a bed blocker at Ipswich Hospital. Along with another patient with lifelong brain injures whose name was Michael. Michael has suffered his brain injury in a car crash, and so he had a claim. Because he had a claim, he had a solicitor to act for him, Neil Cawthorn. A committee was set up, formed by the NHS, Suffolk County Council Social Services and Neil to find a long term solution to the problem. Suffolk County Council Social Services took the lead, headed up by Judith Hawkshaw.
Judith put together a scheme that was mentioned in the NHS annual review of the year the scheme was implemented. The housing scheme was set up as a model of best practice and a national template for bringing private and public funds together to create a service for all. John Major was Prime Minister at the time and he gave Judith an MBE for her work on the project.
The result was the Suffolk Brain Injury Residential Rehabilitation Scheme, set up firstly at Bridge Street, and later as an additional property at Takers Lane. Both properties are in Stowmarket and provide a means for people with acquired brain injuries to live as independently as possible
And that is was Les did. He lacked capacity to manage his own affairs, and so he became a patient, as they are called, under the Court of Protection, and a client of the Professional Deputy Service, or PDS, shortly after it was set up Ny Neil Cawthorn on 2011.
Trevor, Les’ brother said this of the PDS:
” I have nothing but the highest regard for the work of the PDS and the help they gave my brother. Were It not for Neil Cawthorn, the years Les spent after he contracted his illness, lost in the system, would have done for many, many more years. He had a home of his own thanks to Neil; he had money, thanks to Neil, and he had a life thanks to Neil. I cannot speak too highly of he work carried out by Neil and his colleagues at the PDS. “
One of the reasons for setting up The PDS was to hep people like Les to live as independently as possible. The PDS ensured that Les received all the was entitled to, and encouraged him to do as much as he could and to be as independent as possible. His bother, Trevor, saw him each week and took him off for short breaks to places they both loved. The PDS were able to pay fir this Les was always a laugh, a cheeky chappy, who despite his cognitive issues, remained cheerful to the end.