On August 9th, 1945 a 27 year old English Group Captain sat in the nose of an American B.29 bomber as it approached the Japanese city of Nagasaki. He was there to observe the dropping of a single bomb - the second atomic bomb of the war. The young man was the most decorated bomber pilot in the Royal Air Force and had three D.S.O.s, D.F.C. and the Victoria Cross to prove it.

It was a strange mission in many ways. There was no hostile fire directed towards his plane and even at 39,000 feet he was sitting in his shirt sleeves thanks to the pressurised and heated Super-Fortress when he had been accustomed to the icy cold of Lancasters and Halifaxes on previous missions. Also strange was that this young man, Britain's greatest bomber pilot, hated heights.

This mission was his 101st over enemy territory. By all the averages he should have been killed four times over but as his comrades said he was lucky. It wasn't skill that saved people in wartime, it was luck. As he looked down on the unsuspecting city he was a little apprehensive. He knew that the bomb was an unusual one and had been told that the destruction would be widespread. But he had witnessed destruction before in Europe so he did not worry unduly. In fact it was annoyance that disturbed his reverie when he was told to put on a pair of thick welders' glasses which meant that he could not see outside at all.

As he fidgeted he pondered as to how any man-made flash could be so dangerous to demand glasses. His questions were interrupted as the bomb exploded and the cockpit was bathed in a flaring brightness stronger even than the sun itself. Swiftly he turned his head to the source of this unspeakable light and was appalled at what he saw. Over Nagasaki a ball of fire a mile across rocketed upwards and left in its wake scenes of horror so awful that there seemed no connection whatsoever between his bombing missions and this one. That Group Captain who flew back towards Marianas was a changed man. He was probably the man who could claim personally to be responsible for more destruction to enemy property than any other in the war. Yet now, for the first time in his career he did not feel any elation. On the contrary he had become a changed man. If  Nagasaki was our civilisation's supreme moment of history, then this was the moment of destiny for Leonard Cheshire, V.C.

Despite the blinding flash the change did not have the same instant effect that it had had on St Paul nearly two thousand years before. The change that affected Leonard Cheshire was to become more gradual but from that time on his inner feelings were those of saving lives rather than taking them.

Born in Chester in 1917, the son of Geoffrey Cheshire, Professor of Law at Oxford, Leonard led a dissolute and feckless existence as a young man before the war came which was to cast him in a very different role as a military hero. But it was his deeds after the war which proved more rewarding when he established an organisation which was to become the internationally acclaimed  Leonard Cheshire Foundation which cares and provides homes for many thousands of disabled individuals throughout the world.

As Cheshire wrote in his autobiography:- "It all started for me quite innocently with a telephone call. A pleasant voice announced the matron of the hospital in Petersfield and said that Mr Arthur Dykes, with whom she understood I was acquainted, was lying in hospital suffering from an advanced stage of cancer. It  would be helpful, said the matron, if I could come to see her."

"I might have been excused for being slow on the uptake, for quite apart from the general worry and confusion of the situation in which I found myself, I had known the man not as 'Dykes' but simply as Arthur, and I had not really known him very well at that. I put on the best face I could, however, and agreed to call at the following morning".

"On my first visit to the hospital, Matron told me that I was on no account to give Arthur the slightest hint that his cancer was incurable and that he was dying. Arthur sensed he was in the way, and in an effort to resolve the hospital's problem he asked me if I could let him have a small piece of land on which to put a caravan. He said that he had just enough money to buy one and that, once on his feet, he was sure he could manage. His words did not carry much conviction, but I felt so ill at ease having to keep up a continued pretence that, after much thought, I finally decided I must tell him the truth. To my astonishment I saw a look of relief spread across his face. 'Thank you Len for letting me know. It's not knowing that is the worst of all'".

From then on it was inconceivable that Cheshire should fail to find a place for Arthur and invited him to live at an empty house called 'Le Court' that he had bought cheaply from an aunt. For the next few months Cheshire acted as nurse, companion and friend to the old airman and by growing vegetables himself was able to keep both of them well fed, warm and alive. He learned about nursing as he went along, and was always cheerfully prepared to ring the local hospital if snags occurred. So it was that Cheshire's second patient arrived in the shape of a 94 year old bed-ridden wife of an invalid who could cope no longer. Cheshire remembers her arrival on a stretcher and wearing her best hat complete with spectacular feather. "Funny way to be dressed when you're on a stretcher" he thought.

And that is how it all began. Arthur died shortly afterwards in the summer of 1948 but the die was cast. By this time Le Court held 24 people suffering from a wide range of disabilities and diseases and it soon became clear to Cheshire that the demand for places was not just confined to that part of the country. So another home was started in Cornwall and as a result of his contracting TB he was forced to set up a charitable foundation to help with the running of the two homes.

In 1961, the Leonard Cheshire Foundation bought the former Queen Hotel at Dolywern, in the Ceiriog Valley near Chirk for £8,000. This was the first Cheshire Home in North Wales and it admitted its first residents in February 1962. In the beautiful spot alongside the River Ceiriog 34 residents under the age of 65 and suffering from a number of acute forms of physical disabilities benefit from a high standard of individual care. Anyone who lives in the North Wales area or in Shropshire is eligible to receive care provided there is room. While specialising in cases of multiple sclerosis Dolywern is also widening its expertise in cases of Huntington's Disease which is a serious disease of the nervous system. The tragedy is that those young men and women who may well need the care that such a home can give and who are below the age of 65, have to be cared for in our hospitals if room cannot be found.

Although our Wrexham Maelor hospital is a first class medical centre by today's standards it is almost impossible to give the specialised care that is needed by those suffering from acute physical disabilities. They simply do not have the facilities and what is more the patients are invariably treated in wards for the elderly.

Dolywern Home, while part of the Leonard Cheshire Foundation, is an independent organisation serving its own community and almost totally dependent upon the generosity of individuals and upon the fund raising efforts of its management committee. When the National Lottery was introduced, just as in other charities, the income of Dolywern dropped dramatically. However, many local groups have pledged themselves wholeheartedly to raise much needed cash for the home's redevelopment which is likely to cost in excess of £1 million. The 'Wrexham Leader' has also stated its intention to assist wherever possible with informing the public of the home's fund raising activities.

But many local people are unaware of the home and its outstanding work on behalf of the people of North Wales. In a recent street collection in Wrexham with Inner Wheel and Wrexham Rotary Club several people exclaimed as they walked past "Why are they collecting in Wrexham for an organisation from Cheshire?"

Since it opened its doors for the first time in 1962, Dolywern has received a great deal of support from the local communities. Those that know what goes on there are only too happy to work for the cause established over half a century ago by Leonard Cheshire.

When he died in 1992, aged 74, there were 227 Cheshire Homes throughout the world with 77 in Britain alone. The Leonard Cheshire Foundation has grown to become the largest private organisation in the world looking after the physically handicapped whenever and wherever they need help. Let us hope that the much needed support for Dolywern continues well into the next millennium.

Cartref Dyffryn Ceiriog Cheshire Home, Dolywern, Llangollen, LL20 7AF

Telephone:- 01691 718303 or 01691 718939 - Fax:- 01691 718042

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