TAKING STOCK: Squeeze on wallets shifts support away from green energy

TAKING STOCK: Squeeze on wallets shifts support away from green energy

By Tom Mcghie

PUBLISHED: 15:50 EST, 30 June 2012 | UPDATED: 15:50 EST, 30 June 2012

A pernicious combination of falling living standards and soaring energy prices is beginning to have inevitable consequences.

We are starting to abandon ‘greenery’ and embrace practical matters such as cheaper electricity and security of supply.

Calls to become the cleanest country in Europe are starting to be ignored as households in fuel poverty â€" those that pay more than ten per cent of their income on energy â€" are again reaching record levels.

That is what makes a YouGov poll for EDF Energy and seen by Financial Mail so fascinating.

It shows public interest in global warming is nose-diving, with only 59 per cent saying they were interested in the subject compared with 72 per cent four years ago.

As a vivid illustration of this shift in attitudes, it reveals a dramatic fall in backing for wind farms as a clean source of power, with net support falling from 53 per cent to 40 per cent in 12 months.

At the same time it shows a growing support for nuclear energy, despite the Fukushima crisis in Japan last year.

It seems the message that renewable energy costs more, at least at the start, is beginning to get through. This will be music to George Osborne’s ears as the cash-strapped Chancellor slashes subsidies to wind and solar power.

While this is good news for EDF, which is spearheading our nuclear-building programme, it is potentially a huge threat to the nascent renewable energy industry.

Already Denmark’s Vestas has shelved plans to build a wind turbine factory in Sheerness, Kent.

There is also growing evidence that a dash for gas will be better received by the public, even though Britain could become dependent on foreign supplies as North Sea reserves shrink.

The YouGov poll shows growing support for building new power stations up a percentage point to 39 per cent.

This change in mood could not have come at a better time for intrepid shale gas explorers like Staffordshire-based Cuadrilla. It has discovered huge reserves near Blackpool.

By a remarkable coincidence, a high-powered team of academics and engineers from the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society has given a conditional green light to the controversial shale gas fracking technique. This involves injecting water and chemicals underground at extreme pressure to split rocks and release gas.

This will cheer the Chancellor as a new supply of cheaper home-produced energy becomes available. Today America is almost energy  self-sufficient as a result of shale gas fracking.

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Mitch Winehouse book: His shocking bust-up with Amy's husband's family

Mitch Winehouse book: His shocking bust-up with Amy's husband's family

By Mitch Winehouse

PUBLISHED: 16:13 EST, 30 June 2012 | UPDATED: 16:13 EST, 30 June 2012

None of Amy’s friends can remember exactly what led to her meeting Blake Fielder-Civil. It was clear that they loved each other â€" but it was also clear that Blake had his problems.

In 2006, Blake and his friend Michael Brown had been drinking in the Macbeth pub in Hoxton, East London.

Run by James King, it was a well-known music venue frequented by celebrities. During the evening King had thrown Brown out of the pub and Brown had taken his revenge. When King left at about midnight, Brown pounced on him and knocked him to the ground.

Daddy's girl: in the final serialisation of his book, Mitch Winehouse talks about life after daughter Amy

Blake joined in, stamping on King and kicking him in the head and body. King was so badly hurt that he needed 12 hours of surgery, with metal plates and bolts to reconstruct his face.

Blake and Brown were charged with grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent. They pleaded not guilty and the case was transferred to the Crown Court.

Now, more than a year later, in November 2007, Blake was due to face the charges. Amy was terrified he would go to prison. She refused to accept he was guilty. I kept my opinion to myself.

Amy’s mind was also on her attempt to return to America to appear on television talk shows. It had been arranged that she would be allowed entry to the States on condition that she had a drug test. As soon as I heard that, my heart sank.

United front: Blake Fielder-Civil out with his mother in 2007

The following Tuesday, Amy did indeed fail the drug test.

Amy was upset, and the next day we went to The Hawley Arms in Camden Town, where I insisted we stuck to soft drinks.

Even the arrival of a royalty cheque for £750,000 from Universal Records didn’t cheer her up.

I was just so frustrated. ‘It’s your own fault you can’t go to America,’ I told her. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

She fiddled with a button on her shirt. ‘I know, Dad,’ she mumbled.

Then she looked up and I saw something in her eyes that I hadn’t seen for a while. ‘I’m going to try, Dad. I’m really going to try.’

After a while, she stood up. ‘Anyway, Dad, let’s not be miserable any more.’

When she went to the bar, I noticed just how fabulous she looked that day. About half an hour later she got into a row with an extremely drunk girl and ended up slapping her.

Later we went to Soho to get something to eat, but were interrupted constantly by Blake phoning, wanting to know what we were talking about.

Each time, Amy would tell him virtually word for word our conversation. It was annoying.

The following day, I had not long arrived at Amy’s flat in Bow, East London, to see her and Blake, when I glanced through the  window and noticed about five police cars drawing up outside. A few seconds later, the police were hammering on the door.

Blake was cautioned and arrested, though not for anything related to drugs. Blake’s charge was on suspicion of perverting  the course of justice, which  carries a maximum sentence of  life imprisonment.

‘Baby, I love you. I’ll be fine,’ Amy called, as they led him away in handcuffs.

From the window, I saw Blake being put into one of the police cars. Amy rushed over to it and hammered on the window, shouting: ‘I’ll be fine, I love you.’

AMY'S SONG ABOUT ME WAS 'BANG ON'

Amy had a load of recordings on CDs and I was flicking through them when she snatched one away from me.

‘You don’t want to listen to that one, Dad,’ she said. ‘It’s about you.’

I insisted she played What Is It About Men and, when I heard her sing, I immediately understood why: ‘Understand, once he was a family man/ So surely I would never, ever go through it first hand/ Emulate all the sh** my mother hates/  I can’t help but demonstrate my Freudian fate.’

It made me think that perhaps my leaving her mother Janis had had a more profound effect on Amy than I’d previously thought. The lyrics were so well observed, pertinent and, frankly, bang on. 

At this point the details were sketchy because Blake had kept from Amy what he had been doing, but apparently he’d been worried that he would be found guilty of GBH so he had tried to bribe King into not testifying and withdrawing his complaint.

Unfortunately, the confusion didn’t end there. At about 9.30pm that evening Blake’s mother, Georgette, who had been told about Blake’s arrest, arrived with his step-father, Giles, and one of Blake’s brothers.

As I opened the front door, she barged past me screaming: ‘You grassed Blake!’

I didn’t know what to say. Giles joined in, and they accused me of setting up Blake by concocting the bribery story.

Within seconds everyone was shouting at once and I felt the room close in.

‘Oi, leave my dad alone,’ Amy said, defending me.

‘Shut up, b****,’ Giles yelled.

That was it. I lost it and hit him. Suddenly we were all fighting, and Georgette and Giles were both landing punches.

Then Blake’s brother hit me and I fell to the floor. I was being attacked by all three of them.

In the middle of everything, Amy was screaming: ‘No, no, no. Don’t hurt my dad!’

Somehow or other I ended up pinning the Civils to the floor. I was shaking as I said to them: ‘If you don’t stop this, somebody is going to get hurt here tonight and it isn’t going to be me.’

Global superstar: Amy, with her trademark beehive hairstyle, at the height of her success

Rising star: Amy dressed as Minnie Mouse (left) aged six and in her teens (right) while at drama school

While I was trying to keep them on the floor I ended up with my trousers round my ankles.

After things had calmed down, Georgette continued to accuse me of setting Blake up. It wasn’t until the next day that we learned what had really happened. Information had been passed to the police by a newspaper. Georgette never apologised.

In June 2008, Blake Fielder-Civil admitted assaulting James King and perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison and was released in  February this year.

He is now back in jail, this time serving a 32-month sentence in Leeds Prison for burglary and possession of a  fake gun.

MINGLING WITH HOLLYWOOD'S A-LISTERS

Amy went to America to promote her album Back To Black in spring 2007.

Her trip began in Austin, Texas, then went on to West Hollywood, California, where she played the Roxy Theatre.

There were a lot of big names at that gig, including Bruce Willis (pictured right), and they wanted to go to Amy’s dressing room to say hello.

Bruce said to Amy: ‘Hi, I’m Bruce Willis. Would you like to come to Las Vegas with me to celebrate my birthday?’

Quick as anything, Amy said: ‘Only if I can bring my dad!’

Bruce was astounded and Amy carried on the joke: ‘Shall I call him and see if he wants to come?’ Apparently Bruce beat a hasty retreat.

Danny DeVito was at one of the other gigs and Amy kept sidling up to the bar next to him, mouthing: ‘Look, I’m taller than him.’

And she was, if not by much.

My mum Cynthia had always adored jazz, and before she met my father she had dated the great jazz musician Ronnie Scott.

At a gig in 1943, Ronnie introduced her to band leader Glenn Miller, who tried to nick her away from him.

And while my mum fell in love with Glenn Miller’s music, Ronnie fell in love with her.

He was devastated when she ended the relationship, but they remained close friends until he died in 1996. He wrote about my mum in his autobiography.

When she was a little girl, Amy loved hearing my mother recount her stories about Ronnie, the jazz scene and all the things they had got up to.

Young love: Mitch's mother Cynthia, who dated jazz legend Ronnie Scott

As she grew up she started to  get into jazz in a big way; Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan were her early favourites. Amy loved one particular story I told her about Sarah Vaughan and Ronnie Scott.

Whenever Ronnie had a big name on at his Soho club, he would always invite my mum, my auntie Lorna, my sister, me and whoever else we wanted to bring.

We saw some fantastic acts there â€" Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett and a whole host of others â€" but for me, the most memorable was Sarah Vaughan.

We went backstage afterwards and there was a line of people waiting to be introduced to her. When it was Mum’s turn, Ronnie said: ‘Sarah, this is Cynthia. She was my childhood sweetheart and we’re still very close.’

Then Ronnie said: ‘Sarah, this is Matt Monro.’

And Sarah said: ‘What do you do, Matt?’

She really had no idea who he was. A lot of American singers don’t know what’s happening outside New York or Los Angeles, let alone what’s going on in Britain.

I felt a bit sorry for Matt because he was, in my opinion, the greatest British male singer of all time â€" and he wasn’t best pleased either.

He walked out of the club and never spoke to Ronnie Scott again.

© Mitch Winehouse 2012. Abridged extract. Amy, My Daughter, by Mitch Winehouse, is published by HarperCollins, priced £20. To order your copy at the special price of £15.99 with free pp, call the Review Bookstore on 0843 382 1111 or visit mailshop.co.uk/books.  All of Mitch Winehouse’s proceeds from the book  will be donated to the Amy  Winehouse Foundation. Visit amywinehousefoundation.org

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'I've lost the one true love of my life... a delinquent old lurcher called Wally': Emma Parker Bowles remembers the dog of a lifetime

'I've lost the one true love of my life... a delinquent old lurcher called Wally': Emma Parker Bowles remembers the dog of a lifetime

By EMMA PARKER BOWLES

PUBLISHED: 16:04 EST, 30 June 2012 | UPDATED: 16:39 EST, 30 June 2012

Someone once told me that your dog is one of three things â€" a teacher, a healer or a companion. My dog Wally, the love of my life and the dog of a lifetime, was all three. He died in my arms ten days ago and I felt like dying with him. Because that is how we feel when we lose a life partner.

I loved him fearlessly, with complete abandon and with everything I had, which to me is the only way to love a dog. Dogs are safe to love because they will never leave, hurt or judge you.

Thirteen years ago, I went to Battersea Dogs Home. I was fresh out of rehab after being treated for alcoholism and was wandering through life like a raw wound with legs. So I decided to seek out another lost soul.

Made for each other: Emma says Wally was her teacher, healer and companion

I wandered up and down the rows of kennels, looking at all of the dogs with their faces squished up against the bars, desperate  to be touched. I was in hysterical tears after two minutes â€" just what these poor dogs needed.

Luckily, Battersea has a matchmaking service. You fill in a form and tell staff your requirements. They also interview you to make sure you will be a good owner.

During the form-filling, one of the staff came in to chat to my interviewer. With her was a big, yellow lurcher.

He was so skinny you could have had a bath between his ribs, and he had no fur on his bottom and thighs. She said he was so depressed he had stopped eating and she was getting him out of his kennel to try to cheer him up.

Wally wandered over to me, tried to chew my pen and then rested his head on my knee. To paraphrase that memorable line from the film Jerry Maguire, he had me at hello.

He had definitely been beaten as he would cringe if you moved too quickly near his face. He was classed as a ‘juvenile delinquent’ â€" no wonder I liked him.

Emma Parker Bowles rarely went anywhere without her loyal companion Wally

Wally had been at Battersea for six months. Apart from his anti-social behaviour, no one was interested in him because he didn’t make a good showing. Instead of coming up to the bars and wagging his tail, he would curl up at the back of his kennel.

Battersea wanted to make sure that I knew exactly what I was letting myself in for, so I had to (quite rightly) jump through a few hoops to make Wally mine.

The first day I had to ‘socialise’ with him in a room with toys, where he showed no interest in me whatsoever. When I came back the next day he wagged his tail, but when we went to the recreational area, he spent the whole two hours barking at other dogs.

Emma Parker Bowles is the niece of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (pictured)

The third day, I took him for a walk in Battersea Park, where he towed me around on the lead as if I was waterskiing. He lunged at a jogger, chased geese and snatched an ice cream from a child.

This dog was a nightmare. But I knew in my bones that he was my nightmare. I paid my £70 and took him home. We both climbed into bed and for the first time in a long time, for both of us probably, slept right through until morning.

Looking back on those first months, we were both a little  broken. I wasn’t going out because I couldn’t trust myself around alcohol. Wally and I would stay home and sit in front of the fire, sharing a roast chicken. I told him all my secrets and would often cry into his soft fur. Wally slowly started to trust and love me.

After six months, I relapsed and ended up in a hotel drinking absinthe with a Formula 1 driver. When I finally returned home, Wally was sitting in an armchair as though he had been up all night waiting. It was the wake-up call  I needed. There was someone else to think about now. I have not had a drink since. Of course, life wasn’t plain sailing after that but having Wally by my side made everything easier and more fun.

The more comfortable he got, the naughtier he became. He loved to chase anything that moved: cyclists, rollerbladers and the Queen’s swans in Hyde Park. And he was a Wally by nature. He once ran into a tr ee because he wasn’t looking where he was going, and would swipe things off tables with his long tail.

He was the most terrible thief. At a smart country house where  I was staying one weekend, I found him in the larder, gnawing a ginormous leg of ham. I can’t reveal the location of the house  because to this day the hosts still don’t know. I wiped the ham clean and put it back. When it appeared at lunch, I prayed no one would notice Wally’s teeth marks.

On one occasion when I visited the offices of Tatler magazine  (I had a motoring column), I let Wally wander off and greet his admirers. Suddenly, there was  a shriek and I came rushing around the corner to find a work-experience girl in tears. Wally had stolen her lunch, a baked potato, and was devouring it with glee. I explained that he couldn’t  help it â€" lurchers were bred for poaching and ‘lur’ in Romany means thief.

Emma Parker Bowles said that having Wally by her side 'made everything easier and more fun'

Our first weekend away was at Jessica de Rothschild’s country house. When we arrived, the first thing Wally did was pee on a rug.  I say rug â€" it was more like the Bayeux tapestry. I was mortified.

As you can probably tell, my dog-parenting skills were somewhat liberal. In our relationship, Wally was definitely top dog. He would stretch out on my bed so I often ended up sleeping on the edge with just a sliver of duvet.

Emma Parker Bowles said that despite the death of her beloved dog she knows that Wally will also be with her

And when I met a new boyfriend, Wally became extremely jealous. If we were kissing, Wally  forced us apart with his body.Thanks to my career as a motoring writer, I don’t think there  was a luxury car on the market Wally had not sat in. I mentioned him frequently in my columns and he was often photographed. His many fans were sad to see him go (me, not so much) when we moved to California four years ago.

But there comes that awful time with dogs when you realise they are showing their age. He got lumpy, warty and grey and needed a footrest to climb on the bed.

Pet lovers are so in tune with  our animals that we know when something is wrong. In December, I took Wally to my vet, who gave him an ultrasound and found a cancerous tumour on his liver. We took the decision not to remove it â€" I didn’t want to put him through the ordeal of an invasive operation. The vet said that at some point the tumour would bleed out and it would be time to euthanise h im. I would know we had reached that moment because his gums would go pale.

If Wally had been spoiled before, it now reached a whole new level. In California, they are really into pet nutrition and holistic supplements. Wally got a new lease of life thanks to his new regime. But when I awoke ten days ago, I knew something was wrong. Sure enough, his gums were pale and he was very uncomfortable.

I called the vet and told him I thought it was time. For the next hour, I curled up next to Wally on my bed and hoped he couldn’t feel my heart breaking. I thanked him for everything. I managed to keep myself together until he was put to sleep just before sunset. When my beloved had gone, I didn’t think my body could take the pain.

My Wally is buried at my friend Alice Bamford’s ranch in Malibu, which looks out to the ocean. We will plant a tree when I feel ready.

Wally saw me through my struggles with alcohol and depression, the suicide of my best friend and the death of my father. He was my light when it got dark.

I will always be thankful for the things he taught me. To live in the moment. To enjoy the simple things with enthusiasm. Eating roast chicken. Taking naps in front of the fire. Lying on the grass in the shadows of trees on a hot summer’s day. Going for walks. Paddling in streams.

Whenever I do these things, I know Wally will be with me. He will be with me in my heart.

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London 2012 Paralympics: Going for gold, Great Britain's sitting volleyball squad

London 2012 Paralympics: Going for gold, Great Britain's sitting volleyball squad

By John Koski

UPDATED: 18:03 EST, 30 June 2012

These remarkable women embody the real Olympic spirit â€" and next month will make their team debut for Great Britain at the Paralympics

From the left: Sam Bowen, Claire Harvey, Martine Wright, Emma Wiggs, Jodi Hill

We can expect to hear a lot about courage, heroism and true grit when the Olympic Games begin later this month. In the overheated language of sport, these words are scattered like confetti, from the plucky marathon runner who crosses the finishing line after everyone else has gone home to the boldness of the beach volleyball girls for their daring outfits.

But for real bravery it would be difficult to match the women pictured here. They are members of Great Britain’s 11-strong sitting volleyball squad, the first team we’ve ever sent to a Paralympic Games. Between them, they have been blown up, struck down by a mystery virus, paralysed in a hit-and-run accident and survived a fall from a balcony. The fact that they would be horrified if you called them brave or, heaven forbid, felt sorry for them just makes them more admirable. 

Theirs is a fast and physically demanding sport which is played sitting on the floor of the court. In fact, part of i ts appeal is that it gets wheelchair users out of their chairs, which they
find liberating. 

Volleyball England only decided at the end of 2009 to put a squad together, so it’s a remarkable achievement to have won a place at the Games, which start at the end of August. Almost as heroic is that they have done everything on a shoestring, paying for themselves to go to overseas tournaments. Official funding works out at £20 a day each between now and the start of the Games. ‘Even £10,000 would make a huge difference,’ says Claire Harvey, with a hopeful eye to attracting sponsorship. ‘We’re making history and we might shock a few people,’ adds Emma Wiggs.

From left: Sam Bowen, Martine Wright, Emma Wiggs, Jodi Hill, Claire Harvey

Sam Bowen, 26 - ‘Considering what I went through in Iraq, I think I’ve done pretty well!’
Gunner Sam Bowen of 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery was two months into her first tour of duty in Iraq in 2006 when her camp at Al Amara came under heavy night-time bombardment. Shrapnel from a mortar ripped through her right leg, severing an artery and leaving her paralysed from the knee down. It was a miracle that she didn’t bleed to death.

Within three days she was back in the UK, facing two years of hospital treatment and rehabilitation. Sam, a talented boxer (nine fights, nine wins), joined the Army on the promise of getting into the boxing team. She was injured before she had the chance to try. ‘I was totally gutted,’ says Sam, from Mountain Ash in South Wales. ‘The Army was my job, my home, my life.’

More than 20 operations have improved her mobility enormously â€" she refuses to use a wheelchair â€" but she’s still being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, which can cause nightmares, sweats and shakes.

‘Becoming disabled is really hard going,’ says Sam, who is a volunteer support worker for young children with disabilities. ‘But considering what I’ve been through, I think I’ve done pretty well.’ Playing volleyball has helped her recovery, not least because the camaraderie echoes her Army days.
‘I love it. I’ve lost weight, I’m fitter than I’ve been since my accident and my upper body is probably stronger than ever. Words can’t express how I will feel to be in the Olympic stadium.’
Olympic icon: Kelly Holmes

Martine Wright, 39 - ‘After 7/7 I thought my life was over â€" now look at me!’
On the day it was announced, in July 2005, that London had won the Olympics, Martine enjoyed
a celebration drink with colleagues at the technology website where she worked as international marketing manager. It meant that she left home later than usual the following morning. Sitting on the tube, thinking that she must get tickets for the Games, she was blown up in the 7/7 bombings. Martine spent ten days in hospital in an induced coma and lost both legs above the knee.

‘At first, I thought my life was over. But I had two choices: either I could lie there for the rest of my life or I could get on with it.’ She learned to fly, she learned to ski, she married her photographer boyfriend Nick, she project-managed the rebuilding of their new home in Tring, Hertfordshire, and in 2009 she gave birth to a son, Oscar.

‘If you’d said to me seven years ago that I was going to be disabled and playing a Paralympic sport at London 2012, I would have thought you were absolutely mad. But now I can picture Nick and my family at the opening ceremony and Oscar holding up a banner saying †œGo, Mummy!” I truly believe that something wonderful can come out of the darkest depths of your life.’
Olympic icon: Tanni Grey-Thompson

Emma Wiggs, 32 - ‘Being able to do a competitive team sport out of my wheelchair is brilliant’
The last time Emma was able to run, she was 18 and chasing sheep around a farm in Australia’s Blue Mountains on her gap year. She went to bed one night ignoring the pins and needles in her hands and feet, and woke up the next morning unable to move. The virus that struck her down has never been identified, but it caused irreparable nerve damage to both legs.

After two years of rehab in London and her home town of Watford, she took up her place at the University of Chichester, got a first-class degree in sports science and fulfilled her ambition to become a PE teacher. ‘I wasn’t prepared to give up on the career I wanted, despit e being in a wheelchair,’ she says. She spent six years teaching at an independent girls’ school in West Sussex, a career currently on hold to train full time for the Paralympics.

‘Being able to do a competitive sport out of my wheelchair as part of a team is absolutely brilliant. Hockey used to be my main sport and I was an OK player, but I certainly would never have been wearing a Great Britain tracksuit and taking part in the biggest sporting event on the planet. It’s that old cliché about every cloud having a silver lining. Being an Olympian is something to add to my CV which might make me stand out more than having a purple wheelchair.’
Olympic icon: Steve Redgrave

Jodi Hill, 31 - I wouldn’t change what happened to me â€" lots of good things have come out of it’
Jodi is one of the few members of the squad who played standing volleyball, being a regula r in a village team in Germany as a teenager when her RAF family was stationed there. Then, as she wryly puts it, she ‘was given a lesson in how gravity works’. At the age of 21, she fell backwards from a friend’s balcony (‘No, I wasn’t drunk’), landing upright on the hard ground 30 feet below and shattering her left ankle.

After nine years of constant pain and so many operations she’s lost count, she decided in 2010 to have her left leg amputated below the knee. ‘I didn’t really have any other option, and it has completely changed my life. I spent almost ten years not being able to walk properly, not being able to play sport and generally being grumpy.’

Jodi, who owns a coffee shop in the Hampshire village where she lives, adapted quickly to using a prosthetic lower leg and started playing sitting volleyball just a couple of months after the amputation. ‘I never imagined it would lead to a place at the Paralympics. I just wanted to get back into sport, lose some weight and get fitter.

‘To be honest, I wouldn’t change what happened to me. Lots of good things have come out of it and I’m a firm believer that things happen for a reason. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today, I’d still be bumbling along as I was before the accident.’
Olympic icon: Sally Gunnell 

Claire Harvey, 38 - ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which I’m going to grab’
In February 2008, Claire, an international rugby union player nearing the end of her career, was knocked off her bike in a hit-and-run accident while on her way to play for her local club, Tonbridge, in Kent. She suffered spinal injuries which left her right leg paralysed and movement in her left leg severely restricted. She has been in a wheelchair ever since.

Claire gave up her jo b as a prison governor (‘I was fairly easy to run away from,’ she jokes) and is now head of corporate responsibility at the Financial Services Authority. Establishing a new career with colleagues who didn’t know her before she was in a wheelchair has been an important part of her recovery.

‘If you had asked me before the accident whether I could have coped, I would have said absolutely not,’ says Claire, who has a son and daughter with her partner, also called Claire.
‘I have a lot more strength than I imagined.

‘Getting to the Paralympics is something I can give back to everyone who fought to keep me going when I wanted to give up and feel sorry for myself. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which I’m going to grab with both hands.’
Olympic icons: Tanni Grey-Thompson, Fatima Whitbread

To help fund or sponsor the GB women’s sitting volleyball team, contact info@volleyballengland.org.
The sitting volleyball tournament runs from 30 August to 8 September at the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in London

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