Eddie's Story (Read at Eddie’s funeral by the chaplain, Rev. Louise Brown) Eddie was born on 28th October 1940, the youngest of Amy and John Snelling's four children. He had two sisters, Beryl (who is with us today) and Joan, and a brother, John. When he was about three months old in January 1941, Eddie's mum was pushing him in a pram up Barton's Hill in Minster, on the Isle of Sheppey, when a German plane flew low over the area, and strafed it with gunfire. Eddie's mum was injured and a piece of shrapnel ricocheted off the ground, through the base of the pram, and lodged between the baby's spine and lungs. Due to Eddie's age and the position of the shrapnel, the operation to remove it didn't take place for a further year, during which time his every movement had to be watched A husband and wife team at Minster Cottage hospital, which had been opened in the old Minster workhouse buildings, performed the surgery. Some of Eddie's ribs had to be removed to access the shrapnel, and it was a blow to discover that his spinal cord had been damaged. After the long and difficult operation Doctor Wynn and his wife Margery went to pray for Eddie at Minster Abbey. Weeks of anxiety followed as the youngster fought off double pneumonia but, as many of you will know, Eddie was a fighter. While he was a happy little boy at home with his family, Minster didn't offer anything suitable for the education of a boy with his disabilities, and so Eddie was sent to the St Martin's Orthopaedic Hospital at Pyford in Surrey, and to North Wales. Conditions in North Wales were not good, and Eddie's mum, along with Beryl, had to go and collect him after 18 months, to bring him back to Pyford. Eddie's dad died when he was just seven years old, and the family tried desperately to have him placed closer to home - eventually he was admitted to Chailey Heritage School in Sussex, from where he was able to return during holidays to stay with his family and renew friendships with folk on the island. By this time Eddie was able to get about with the aid of crutches, supported by a rib brace and a calliper on his left leg - though to say "walk" would be to understate the amount of effort and skill that even this required. Chailey's aim was to see to it that their students, all of them boys with disabilities, would be able to lead independent lives, free of the need for state or charitable support. In other words, "to turn boys into men". Despite their injuries, the boys had to walk from their dormitories half a mile across Chailey common, to and from the school, four times a day in all weathers. This was undoubtedly 'tough love'. If a boy fell, he would have to get himself up without help. Anyone who has ever encountered Eddie's legendary independence and fierce rejection of unwanted assistance might have wondered where that came from… A third blow occurred when Eddie was 13 with the loss of his mum. The oldest sister, Beryl (who was a cook at Eton College), provided a home for him in Windsor when he left school, and encouraged him to take a tailoring course at Lord Mayor Treloar College, near Farnham. For many years Eddie would make and alter uniforms for the Eton College boys, but eventually he took a job making and repairing delicate medical instruments at Keeler Optical Products, where he worked for over 38 years. Tailoring remained his hobby, and interested him for the rest of his life. It was at a church youth club in Windsor that Eddie met Brenda, and the two married and went on to have a son, Paul. They remained living in Windsor and in 2012 they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. In his early forties Eddie discovered that the use of a wheelchair opened up new opportunities for him and he used one more frequently; eventually abandoning his crutches and the rib brace and calliper - which he used to refer to as 'a stone and a half of iron and leather'. This was a difficult adjustment for an independent man to make, but the relief must have been enormous, and the number of new activities far outweighed those that wheels made harder. His many hobbies, at which he was extremely accomplished, included fishing, woodwork, photography and "retail therapy". He has been incredibly successful in passing the woodwork, photography and particularly the spending of money, on to Paul. No one can argue that Eddie allowed his disabilities prevent him from living a long and full life. He and Brenda made a formidable team, accomplishing more than many who had less adversity to cope with. He was never heard to complain about his injuries or the difficulties they caused him, and he had little time for those who, in similar circumstances, did. He was though devastated when, in another cruel twist of fate, Brenda was found to be suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. For that reason, the family has asked flowers be limited today, and that those who would like to should donate instead to the MS Society. In the last two years of his life Eddie was increasingly unwell, suffering falls, illnesses and several stays in hospital, which he hated. It had been hoped that he'd be well enough to return home and regain a measure of his former independence, but it was not to be. Eddie passed away peacefully in the Intensive Therapy Unit at Wexham Park on Tuesday 15th July, having been visited within the preceding 24 hours by his loved ones, and with Paul and wife Michelle, by his side.