Showing posts with label chairs for sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chairs for sale. Show all posts

Tuesday 1 August 2017

90 Year Old Dunkirk Veteran Can Stand At Ease

WW II Veteran Gets Comfy Recliner 


Our installations team had a special delivery to make recently to Dunkirk Veteran Raymonde.

Her new lounge chair will be perfect for watching the blockbuster movie "Dunkirk" on, which is currently in the cinemas.  Or perhaps for just putting her feet up at the end of a long day.

Raymonde pictured with Malcolm from Castle Comfort Centre
Raymonde, aged 90, was a lookout for the French resistance in Dunkerque during the Second World War, and will be able to watch her telly with her feet up, or stand easily with the aid of a new riser recliner chair bought from Castle Comfort.



What was life like back then?

When all the British and French soldiers were on the beaches, some 300,000 of them, and being bombed by German planes and having their ships torpedoed by submarines – it looked a desperate situation, cornered with nowhere to go. This is where the phrase Dunkirk Spirit comes from – the overcoming of overwhelming odds stacked against you. 

In her own words...

I was born in Dunkirk in 1927. My father Louis Defeyer met my mother Madeleine Provou and they became engaged to be married in 1913, unfortunately the war broke out in 1914 and father was conscripted to the front line so the wedding was postponed until he was granted leave. 

Father was billeted on the Somme and Verdin and life went on!. A problem then arose because mother got pregnant and father could not get leave from the front to marry. My father worried that if he got killed my mother would have no pension and so his officer arranged for a priest to marry them by proxy. 

Four years later demoralised and under nourished my father got leave from the Army and met his 4 year old daughter Marguerite for the first time. My parents had 9 children, 2 died in infancy and 2 of us remain, my dear sister Nicole who I am in regular contact with, is 80 years old. 

As a child my schooling was basic and we all went to church regularly. My dad got a job working in the docks after the First World War, and mother had to help put food on the table by taking in sewing and patching our clothes to hand down, as there were no benefits to help my parents. 

We were very poor and mother did wonders with the small amounts of food ingredients she could get.  We had food and a warm clean bed. I remember father taking us to the beach to fill up flour bags with sand that he used to put into the oven to warm then put in our beds .

The worst years

When I was 8 years old my father was forced to strike along side other dockers, rail workers and miners and they were starved and bullied if they tried to break the strike. Following the strike in 1936 there was a Spanish Revolution so we had emigrants and in 1940 we were aware that among the Spanish emigrants we had the German Fifth Column infiltrated among the rush of emigrants. They were recognised by the red blankets they wore on their backs so it was not just the war in progress but the Germans had invaded and infiltrated the troops before the war started.


The invasion of Europe

The Belgians and Jewish people suffered the most as the German Nazi put markers on the Jewish houses and shops in preparation to arrest them and send them by train to concentration camps. 

In 1940 the English soldiers were waiting in the dunes along the beaches to be rescued but the big ships couldn't approach so later civilian volunteers came from England in little boats before the Germans occupied Dunkirk. 

This mass evacuation was codenamed Operation Dynamo and the troops made a sort of bridge out of abandoned cars, jeeps and trucks so they could beach the little boats. It was not easy because the German planes bombarded day and night never stopping. 

When the troops were doing their best the town people of Dunkirk opened all the water towers around the town. I was 13 years old then and remember sheltering from the bombs in the towns Assizes Court. It was total carnage for a week as there was no escape. The people who died could not be buried and my dad and other civilians made a mass grave and boxes with names on. 

At 15 years old I became a runner for the resistance and once when giving a British pilot a drink of water after he was shot down, a German soldier kicked me. Strangely I was to meet this British pilot many years later after I married my English husband who was in the Royal Navy. 

In 1950 we moved to Kidsgrove, his home town and that was where I met the pilot again, small world. My whole French family, mother, father, brothers and sisters are buried in the large cemetery in Dunkirk that is also the resting place of many brave soldiers, sailors and airmen from many countries

 Vive La Resistance! Image Courtesy of F.Oosterveld
'We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.' 
- Winston Churchill speaking after the Dunkirk evacuation  Source: The BBC 

Competition

We always find it interesting hearing the yesteryear golden age memories of many of our customers. 

If you played a part in World War I or World War II then get in touch with us here at Castle Comfort with your story. You can email it to us here.

We will award a prize of a £50 Marks and Spencers voucher for the letter that our voting panel unanimously votes to be the best. 
Competition ends 2nd September 2017 (Official anniversary of the end of WWII).


Saturday 2 April 2011

Motorised Chair | Electric Reclining Chairs for the Elderly

If you are looking for a motorised chair or electric recliner chairs and you would like to visit the showroom or know more about the huge range available then visit the website.
Watch the video to see a demonstration below or phone Keith or Ann directly 8am-11pm on 08000 832 797



Motorised chairs are either single motor or dual motor chairs. On the video above you can see Keith demonstrating the dual motor riser recliner to a gentleman and his wife who recently visited the showroom. There is a huge range of riser recliner chairs available and they can cost from just £295 for a reconditioned model rising up in price from there with specification and added features, and covering choice - leather generally being more expensive than fabric. A motorised chair ideally needs to be sized to the individual as they are not all the same. Most of our models are available in a small, medium or large sizing and with a dazzling array of fabric or leather cover options. Swatches are available in the showroom and we can send you a brochure aswell if you wish or to try before you buy and if you are fairly local we can arrange a courtesy pick-up using one of the vehicles below, which shows our headquarters. This landmark building - Bank House, (which used to be a NatWest bank) is now where our riser recliner chair and adjustable bed showroom is based. Make a day of it and visit Alton Towers, Wedgwood, Portmerion or Potteries Factory Outlets, Freeport Talke, Little Moreton Hall or Biddulph Grange Gardens, Trentham Gardens, or Waterworld.



Within easy reach of the M6, A500 and A34 on Wolstanton High Street. Click the map below for a clear view of our central location and google map for directions. We are opposite the new Asda on Wolstanton High Street. So if you are looking for a motorised electric reclining chair for a loved one would like to visit the showroom or know more about the huge range available click here to visit the website or phone Keith or Ann directly 8am-11pm on 08000 832 797


Motorised chair delivery schedules.


North Staffordshire Run
. Stoke on Trent, Newcastle under Lyme, Leek, Biddulph, Stone, Cannock, Cheadle, Stafford, Rugeley, Hanley, Longton, Burslem Tunstall, Kidsgrove, Alsager, Uttoxeter and Market Drayton.

Every Monday - The North Wales Run
Chester, Flint, Rhos on Sea, Landudno, Prestatyn, Conwy (Conwy) Wrexham, Anglesey, Gwynedd. Welsh spoken - Cymraeg ar lafar.



Every Tues, Wed & Friday South Staffordshire, West Midlands & Warwickshire Run. Walsall, Wolverhampton, Halesowen, Birmingham, Coventry, Warwick, Leamington Spa, Rugby, Warwick & Stratford on Avon, etc



Please enquire by calling Freephone 0800 0832 797.



Every Monday, Thursday & Friday South Cheshire Run. Congleton, Macclesfield, Prestbury Stockport, Crewe, Sandbach, Nantwich, Cheadle Hulme, Knutsford, Warrrington,Ellesmere Port, Widnes Runcorn & The Wirrall etc




Every Wednesday The Lancashire Run. Includes Manchester, Wigan, Bury, Stockport, Rochdale, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Blackpool, Southport, Morecambe, Lytham St Annes, Lancaster Fleetwood and Colne etc.




Every Tuesday The Shropshire Run To the Welsh Borders visiting Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, Telford, Newport, with often extended runs to incorporate Powys, and the Swansea and Cardiff areas. Includes Kidderminster, Leominster and Hereford.


Every Friday The 'Eastern Route' To Derby, Matlock, Burton on Trent, Matlock, Chesterfield, Nottingham, Mansfield & Retford.




Increased and enhanced arrangements at Christmas& Mother’s Day & Father’s Day. Guaranteed Birthday/Anniversary delivery dates - Anywhere in England & Wales with 14 days notice.


Scotland & Northern Ireland – 21 days notice recommended


Emergency deliveries arranged ASAP. Hospital discharge cases receive top priority.


FOR PRICES & FURTHER INFORMATION ON ALL RISER RECLINING CHAIRS FOR THE ELDERLY CLICK OR CALL 08000 832 797