Off-road wheelchair lets Derry enjoy beach
A FORMER medical scientist who uses a wheelchair will be free to enjoy outings to the beach this summer thanks to a 'life-changing' gift from the Guernsey Alzheimer's Association.
Derry Vonberg, 93, relished spending time on the beach until he became fully dependent on a wheelchair four years ago.
Then it became a no-go area, with his wheelchair's wheels sinking into the sand on contact and rapidly becoming immoveable.
Mr Vonberg's daughter and carer, Jane Aireton, was put in touch with the association by Connaught Care Home manager Emma Gershon, and outlined her father's plight to them.
The association's committee agreed to spend £1,300 on an off-road 'beach wheelchair' for Mr Vonberg.
Made in the Algarve in Portugal, it was shipped to the UK and then transported for free by Alderney Shipping from Poole.
Mr Vonberg, who was appointed a CBE, built the first particle accelerator to be dedicated to treating cancer.
The custom-built wheelchair has wide flotation tyres like a beach buggy and can be quickly dismantled to go in a car.
'This is life-changing for my father. Outdoors he was basically limited to going to places where the ground was covered with Tarmac,' said Mrs Aireton.
