Member Stories

Sheila Gray

The first six weeks of my life were quite exotic really. It’s a shame I don’t remember them. I was born in India, where my father was serving in the… Read more

Paul Hovell

I was born in December 1954 at Victoria Hospital in Mansfield. When I was eight months old, I contracted polio and was admitted to Heathfield Isolation Hospital in Nottingham in… Read more

Michael Cassidy

What does it mean to live with disability for 75 years? For me, it began in the shadow of post-war polio epidemics – a childhood of *hospitals, callipers, and resilience. Yet… Read more

John Baldwin

John Baldwin contracted polio aged 9, in February 1948, before a vaccine had been found. For quite some time John was left paralysed from the chest down and his memorises… Read more

John Ault

It was Easter of 1957 when I contracted polio at the age of five, following a day trip to Margate beach. The illness led to partial paralysis of my legs… Read more

Frances Rosbotham

I contracted Polio in 1947 at the age of 4 years. My parents had just lost my little brother Stewart at the age of 2 years, so things must have… Read more