I was delighted to accept the extremely generous donation from THROB, which will allow us to develop a world-class cardiac educational facility, linking the modern Post-Graduate Educational Centre with the Cardiac Catheter Lab at Wexham Park. As you will be aware, there has been a tremendous development of cardiology services locally. The cardiac catheter lab is now at maximum capacity, performing more than 1500 cardiac procedures per year. This new development will allow us to use the facility as a state of the art education unit for both medical professionals and patients alike.

A live high definition audiovisual link will be created between the main lecture theatre in the Post-Graduate Centre and the Catheter Lab itself. This will provide live transmission of cases with the ability of the operator and other staff to be able to speak directly to the visitors. As well as watching the procedure, all the various images and monitoring (seven different kinds of monitoring take place) will be able to be seen in real time.

Once in place, the potential of this system is almost limitless, and the signals could indeed be beamed around the world to allow our facility to be involved in major International conferences. I hope you will agree that this is an extremely exciting project that will mean, in addition to being a clinical centre of excellence for cardiology, we can become a renowned centre for education and training excellence.

I will keep you posted as the project develops and look forward to being able to report further once everything is in place.

Stephen Rex

65th D-Day ANNIVERSARY (6th of June 2009)

GOLD BEACH - ARROMANCHE

This tale begins in March 2009 with a phone call from Mr Eric Patterson, the owner of E.G.P. Enterprises (Auto Jumble and Southern Classic Motorcycle Shows, Kempton Park Race Course), asking me if I would support the Normandy Veteran Charity Stand during the March meeting. They were seeking to raise funds for their D-Day Veterans and I could help by showing my restored WW2 Ariel 1941 W/NG Motorcycle. I also ask Len Abbott if he would like to participate with his restored WW2 Ariel 1944 W/NG. Needless to say, Len and I were only too willing to help out with this worthy cause. All aficionados of our hobby will readily relate to our enthusiasm and the subsequent events that ensued. It was during this meeting, in the company of the Normandy Veterans organisers, that Len and I independently thought that it would be great if we could join in the euphoria of this last organised pilgrimage to the D-Day Landing Beaches, we would just be observers since Len and I were not involved in that great event. Len is a WW2 Burma Campaign Veteran whereas I was an occupation forces (BAOR) veteran stationed at Bielefeld in 1956, and so independently we began sounding out the possible avenues to achieve our goals. Eventually by sheer coincidence our efforts centred on one man, Mr Adrian Cox.

Adrian just so happened to be the prime mover of the Charity Stand and a resident of Arromanche. Furthermore, he had connections in that he was a Councillor and a Hotel BB owner. Len and I, not wanting too much, just somewhere to lay up, were quite prepared to rough it in a barn or shed. Adrian was most keen to have us come along with our motorcycles and join in the 65/65 event. This was to get 65 Military Motor Cycles onto Gold Beach at Arromanche for the 65th anniversary and establish a new world record for Military Motor Cycles on a Beach! Furthermore we were not to worry about our accommodation since he would put us up in his hotel loft. Visions of the "Hello! Hello!" programme and Rene with his bed-knob wireless intercom and the wartime escape RAF pilots sprang to mind. To add weight to our proposed journey, Len and I were invited by none other than the Mayor of Arromanche. Apparently there is an embargo of importation of Military Vehicles into France unless a waiver is exercised by whoever - in this case, the Mayor. Our travel instructions were that we should bring ourselves suitably attired, our WW2 Motorcycles, a sleeping bag bedroll and some money! Len and I have an aversion for re-enactment activities, so period uniform was a bit out of the question but we did compromise by wearing some khaki clothing and sporting our veteran medals along with our service badges.

Preparation of our machines took on a life of its own with some panic moments. Remember these are old machines and like a lot of oldies prone to hiccups, we both suffered dynamo and regulator problems, but easily rectified. A few starting problems, mainly operator over-enthusiasm, but on the whole we were ready for our little adventure which was to start on the 4th of June and finish on the 8th. We would travel down to Portsmouth and catch the 8am Brittany Ferry to Ouisterham near Caen and then travel on the coast road to Arromanche, a distance of roughly 80 to 90 miles, which felt a lot more on these old machines! It was arranged that Len would meet me outside my home at 0415 hrs to give us plenty of time in case of minor delays. It was just as well, as Len came past me waving his hand in delight. I started my bike, and for five seconds or so it was good, then it died. A THROB exercise class has no match for a bike with a kick start that won't fire up. In no time I was out of breath and my leg was weakening fast. My dear wife Eileen, who, bless her, was seeing me off was admonishing me not to panic. At that time of the morning! My under the breath expletives in different languages would have embarrassed the devil. Then I remembered (Silly Billy) that whilst waiting for Len and talking to Eileen I had turned the Petrol Off because these machines are prone to flooding. Turn the Petrol On and hey presto the machine burst into life with a staccato like sound disturbing the neighbourhood. Fortunately I had warned the neighbours of my early noisy start. Waving goodbye to Eileen I was on my way. Len, who had been waiting for me further up the road had turned round to investigate the problem was, I am sure, delighted to see me mobile. However, I was not out of the woods. I noticed that my lighting system was not working. Although not serious, it was not legal to be riding a machine without lights. It then dawned on me that I had disconnected the battery during my earlier electrical investigation. With Len's help I dismounted and reconnected the battery, at long last we were on our way. The rest of the journey to France was just matter of fact enjoyment of early morning riding and a relaxing ferry journey. We negotiated our exit from the Ferry Terminal at Ouisterham and promptly got lost because the coast road to Arromanche had been closed off to accommodate the various venues of landing locations. Diversions by the Gendarmerie were many and confusing, so our little map was wasted space but we kept going and eventually arrived at Arromanche late afternoon.

Finding our accommodation one would think would be simple - you've guessed it! We went around Arromanche Town three times looking for the Hotel Normandy Beach BB on the Avenue Mountbatten. I relied on Len who could speak some French but in the end it was an English couple of whom we enquired and who directed us to the Hotel. Apparently, at one stage, we did stop outside the Hotel and Adrian Cox was shouting, whistling and waving at us but I suppose two oldies were too tired to notice. So eventually we arrived and were shown to our room, not the loft but an en-suite plush room - very comfortable. All drinks of any description were on the house, as were the breakfasts but the greatest surprise was the fact that all this would not be charged for. Adrian and his family place their Hotel at the disposal of the Veterans for the duration of the Remembrance. Adrian regarded Len's activity in the Burma Theatre as equivalent to the Normandy episode and I was the carer. So I was Len's "Batman", a role I enjoyed, except for his loud snore which sounds like a sawmill in full production. We both had a great time and were looked after by another Adrian - Adrian Crossan and his partner Annie who ensured that we did not get lost again. The D-Day Remembrance itself was poignant and the Beach Exercise exceeded all expectation in that the number of bikes on the beach came to over 144 machines. From an attacking point of view that beach was one hell of a run in against all those bullets and shells, they were brave men since they had little choice but to do and die for our today.

Adrian and his family spoilt Len and I, but we must have done something right and good because we have both been invited back under the same terms for next year's reunion. Now that is what I call real selfless generosity. It makes one feel very privileged and humble. Our journey home was also eventful, my machine packed up on exiting the Ferry on the ramp - very embarrassing, a lot of horns honking at me (Bl**** Continentals). Then again on the motorway outside Portsmouth Ferry Terminal, fuel starvation was the problem. In both cases, with the tank on reserve, the task was to find a petrol station. We found one eventually with great difficulty and to cap it all, the pumps had shut down due to a computer fault but thankfully not for long. With full tanks we were on our way home. Our adventure of 4 days and over 250 miles was over. It felt like a 1000 miles, I shall never complain again about the state of Berkshire's roads or any roads in the UK for that matter.

Arthur Hodgkins

THE DOCTOR KNOWS BEST............

If you suffer from heart disease, take your medicines. That's the advice of researchers who have found that heart disease sufferers who don't follow doctor's orders to take their medications are more than twice as likely to suffer a heart attack or other heart-related event.

In the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 1,015 adults with established heart disease were asked a single question: 'In the past month, how often did you take your medications as the doctor prescribed?' Of those surveyed, 83 (8.2%) admitted to not always following doctors orders. These people doubled their risk of having a subsequent cardiovascular event during the 3.9 years of follow up.

According to lead researcher, Dr Anil K. Gehi of Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, not taking prescribed medication is as important as diabetes or smoking in contributing to worsened outcomes in the population studied. He also said that failure to take medication as prescribed is remarkably common and a recognised cause of adverse outcomes in medical conditions, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

According to the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), 45 per cent of the medications prescribed in the UK are for people aged 65 and over, but as many as 50 per cent of older people on prescribed medication may not be taking their medicines as instructed. People forget, or don't like the side effects. On many occasions, the symptoms may have lessened or disappeared altogether, giving a false impression that the medication is no longer needed.

The British Heart Foundation stresses that sticking to your medication is important for the drug to work effectively. If doses are missed, even unintentionally, the concentration of medication in the body is altered and its effectiveness is lessened. It can also be dangerous to stop taking tablets such as beta blockers without medical advice.

Regardless of your illness, you should take the entire course of prescribed medication even though your symptoms may appear to have gone. If you are concerned about your medication, visit your GP before you decide to stop popping the pills.

Kevin Johnson 2009

FUTURE TREATMENT OF HEART DISEASE

Members of THROB will be interested in a report launched recently by the Cardio & Vascular Coalition (CYC), which is a group of 41 charities and professional organisations with an interest in heart disease and associated conditions. This report was launched recently at the Houses of Parliament where 60 MPs and peers were present and over 71 MPs have signified their support by signing a Parliamentary motion. Over 300 letters have been sent to newspaper editors to call their attention to the campaign.

The report, which is intended to influence governmental policies for the next decade, recommends a new strategic approach to cardiac and vascular health in England, which should build on the achievements of the National Service Framework (NSF) for Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). The NSF was a 10 year plan of action which has made major changes for the treatment of CHD patients in the district. Before the launch of the NSF East Berkshire had only one consultant cardiologist at Wexham Park Hospital and all interventions were transferred to major hospitals outside the area, mainly to the Brompton Hospital in London. We now have 4 consultant cardiologists and a Coronary Care Laboratory at Wexham Park Hospital which has carried out over 1000 angioplasties since it opened. However there is still a need to widen the scope of the original NSF to incorporate better management of co-existing cardiac and vascular conditions such as Stroke and Diabetes. Furthermore, the original report did not cover congenital conditions and these now require attention in future planning.

The Report, titled Destination 2020, outlines the principles that should guide a new strategic government approach to cardiac and vascular conditions. It is claimed that this is needed:

* To meet the public health challenges which cardiac and vascular conditions present to the next decade.

* To ensure that there is no loss of the momentum gained by the NSF.

* To produce a strategic approach which will deliver further improvements and the allocation of resources to achieve them.

* To cover gaps in the existing treatments such as prevention, rehabilitation and congenital conditions.

The aims of the report are:

* To reduce the incidence of cardiac and vascular disease.

* To reduce inequalities in the treatment across different areas.

* To give better integration between patient and social care.

These aims should be achieved by:

* Setting new standards of excellence in both prevention and treatment.

* Involving patient and carers in the decisions on future policies.

* Co-ordinating evidence-based programmes to improve the health of CHD patients.

* Ensuring appropriate commissioning of services by the local Health Authorities.

* Providing strong research.

* Addressing specific areas of need.

Members of THROB can support this report by visiting www.newheartplan.org.ukwhere there is a petition to sign and can obtain more details on the report and the CVC through www.cardiovascularcoalition.org.uk.

Roger Mills