CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Hello and welcome to the National Trust
Podcast. I'm Claire Hickinbotham and today we're visiting the
South Shields coast in the north east of England. Once known for
its coal mining and shipbuilding industries, Sand Haven Beach has
been described as one of Britain's best beaches.
But it's not just the scenery that makes this place special,
it's also the adventure and adrenaline fuelled experiences
on offer that's turned one family's pipe dream of surfing
together into a reality.
KAREN HALTON: Melissa and my husband and son were racing in.
You know, Nick would drag Melissa out and ride the waves
out. And then they'll all just take a turn riding the same wave
back in.
She was giggling. We were laughing, and I just can't tell
you, I can't explain the feeling and how much it meant to us as a
family to have an experience that we could all do at the same
time.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Just 13 miles from Newcastle city
centre, with the mouth of the River Tyne to the north and the
National Trust's Souter Lighthouse to the south, Sand
Haven Beach is a beautiful stretch of coastline.
Evidence of the area's coalmining past is still visible
at times, and pieces of coal still wash up on Sand Haven
Beach from the former West Ho Colliery, but a clean up of the
coastline after the colliery shut in 1993 has resulted in the
beach now having won awards.
NICK JONES: We had the coal mine and then there's the quarry at
the end, which the pier was built out of. That was actually
the old landfill. The mine used to go out a mile undersea, so
you get lots of coal popping up and you can still collect it.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Nick Jones spends his life on the beach.
He's from South Shields Surf.
NICK JONES: Now you've got this- just this fabulous mile of
golden sands. You got waves, you got rock pools. You've got
glorious like little nooks and crannies down through the cliffs
to go exploring, and it's all accessible to everybody.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: The beach and coastline are now at the
heart of the local community.
NICK JONES: We celebrate it ourselves. We have an annual
beach festival, and we get as many local organizations who are
involved in the beach and the coast down here. And we get them
down and we just have- Yeah, a good time.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: But Nick believes it's the sea that
brings the biggest benefit to people.
NICK JONES: The sea’s kind of special because it's immersive
and so you're fully in it and it is restorative on multiple
levels. You physically refreshed, and that helps you be
mentally refreshed. Just the North Sea is cold you know like
that element of it too.
But then it's like an enforced state of meditation, and state
of flow that you fall into when you're surfing because you’re
concentrating on waves, you’re concentrating conditions, you're
concentrating on seeking out that good feeling from catching
a wave.
When surfers get good waves and then they've had a good session,
they often say, I feel stoked.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: When Nick first set up, he offered
standard surf lessons. But after lots of requests from community
groups and with the help of some funding, South Shields Surf
School started offering surfing lessons to more people,
including children with learning disabilities, wheelchair users,
veterans groups and adults who struggle with their mental
health.
NICK JONES: So I think everyone should be able to access the
good feelings of being in the ocean. The only reason people
can't access it, if they've got a physical disability, is that
access hasn't been provided.
It's really important that we take away those barriers that
are imposed on people.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: One family who knows only too well the
challenges of getting onto the beach are the Haltons.
Karen and Alan run a farm in Bolton where they live with
their three children. Their daughters, Danielle and Melissa,
who are in their 20s, and teenager Thomas.
Melissa is a wheelchair user following complications in the
days and weeks after her birth.
And it means holidays and family days at the beach can be
challenging.
KAREN HALTON: A day at the beach was just it wasn't going to
happen for us as a family.
We couldn't get Melissa's wheelchair onto the sand because
it sinks in the sand.
So what tended to happen was my husband and son or my daughter,
my oldest daughter as well, would go off on the beach and
have a bit of beach time and climb the rocks and go into the
sea paddling, while me and Melissa would just have to go
along the front.
The fronts are geared up lovely these days. They are, they’re
nice and flat and we can stroll along, but we're always
separated.
We can't do a beach day as a family. It's awful, really,
because I want to be on the beach just as much as Melissa
wants to be on the beach, and my children and my husband want us
all to be together. But the areas just aren't geared up.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Like all parents, Karen and her husband
want to give their kids fun and memorable experiences. And a
highlight each year is their family holiday away from running
the farm. But organizing their holiday isn't as simple as
hopping online or visiting a travel agent. It's a big
undertaking.
KAREN HALTON: When we're trying to book a holiday, it becomes a
real issue from the get go. For Melissa, we need to book months
and months and months in advance, if not a year prior.
There's no such thing as a spontaneous holiday when you've
got a wheelchair user, because everything books up so quickly
and facilities are so limited.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: But when Karen was booking a recent
annual holiday, a post on social media caught her eye.
KAREN HALTON: We were lucky when we was going on holiday last
year. We've got a Facebook group that does holidays and
suggestions for people with disabilities.
So we went on that Facebook group and tell them where I was
going, up the Durham area, and asked if anybody knew of
anything that was there.
And one of the suggestions was the surf school.
So I contacted Nick and he was fantastic from start to finish.
He explained the whole process. He also suggested that we could
get the rest of the family in as well at the same time as Melissa
doing the surfing.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: So successful was this first trip
that Melissa, mum Karen and dad Allen have made the journey from
Bolton to South Shields again with one of their other children
for another rare chance of surfing as a family.
KAREN HALTON: Hi Nick!
NICK JONES: Hi guys! It's lovely to see you again. Yeah, Hi
Melissa, how are you?
MELISSA HALTON: Alright
KAREN HALTON: Good, aren’t you?
NICK JONES: You glad you came back?
KAREN HALTON: Excited, aren’t you?
NICK JONES: Remember we dunked you last time?
KAREN HALTON: She doesn’t mind being dunked. You loved it
didn’t you? It’s half the fun!
NICK JONES: Oh, yeah! Well it’s a little less exciting the last
time, isn't it?
KAREN HALTON: Yeah. The waves aren't quite as good this time,
but I'm sure we'll still have a blast.
NICK JONES: Yeah, we're still going to get in and have a bit
of a giggle out of the board. Right. Brilliant. Let's go get
your wetsuits on.
KAREN HALTON: Perfect, come on off we go!
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: At the water's edge, Nick gets the
family into position supporting Melissa on the surfboard.
NICK JONES: And in case Melissa does, a little tippy-flippy! You
know, if you want to do a tippy-flippy We'll, do
tippy-flippy all day long! Right, Melissa, let's get you
out there!
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: For Melissa to even be in the water, let
alone enjoying a surf lesson, was previously a pipe dream for
the family. Unimaginable in the days and weeks after she was
born.
KAREN HALTON: So Melissa was born in 2002. She was noted to
have breathing difficulties on feeding within the first 24
hours. We then went obviously to neonatal.
It was only when she was in neonatal that we realized that
she actually had a heart condition, but we wasn't sure of
the severity of it.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Melissa has been classed as having a left
hemiplegia cerebral palsy. It was shortly after her birth that
it was discovered she had a condition called aortic
stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve in the heart.
It was a critical condition, and Melissa was operated on when she
was just a couple of weeks old. But there were difficulties in
restarting her heart. A team was brought from Great Ormond Street
Hospital and they placed Melissa on ECMO a form of life support.
KAREN HALTON: She was then on ECMO for a further six days.
Unfortunately, on the last day they did a scan of her brain and
realized that they've been a bleed to the brain and that
there was some brain damage.
Now, she literally only has the use of her right hand, so it
affects every element of her life. She can't walk, we need a
hoist to get her in and out of the bath. We have a turner to
get her onto the toilet, so that makes a lot days out very
difficult.
We have to make sure that she's living a full life so Melissa
comes first. Yeah. Quality of life is what really matters. And
we make sure that every step of the way we can do that.
Melissa is very into active things.
She loves anything with speed. She's like her Dad on that one!
Anything that's fast, Roller coasters, a fast car, whatever,
she loves going and watching motor racing.
She’s a crackers character, she's brilliant to be around.
She's an absolute love. She'll brighten anybody's day up. She
does attract people because she's just such a lovely
personality!
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Finding Nick's surf school and getting
Melissa surfing with the whole family that very first time was
a dream come true for mum Karen.
KAREN HALTON: When we got to Nick's surf school and
everything started going into plan, it was like, this is
amazing. So we got Melissa into one of the beach wheelchairs to
transfer down to the seafront.
We got to the front, we all was changed into our wetsuits
because Nick said he wanted us all in as a family, which has
not happened since she was probably two years old.
You know, there was no standerbys, you know, I was and
Melissa was in the whole family was, and it was perfect.
She ended up being ditched completely into the water. She
came up bobbing cause obviously she had a life jacket and
everything else on.
She came a smiling her head off, laughing like there was no
tomorrow. Because it was just she'd done something that surfer
dudes do!
She'd wiped out.!
It was lovely, you know, and she thought that was fantastic!
So Alan and Nick just got her back in the board he asked if
she was alright, she was like “yes, let's go again! ”
Well, at the time she was absolutely buzzing and she said
she's had the best day ever. She said, “Mum, it's my 21st soon
can I go again? ” [
Montage of surfing] Keep paddling amazing well done! [
GENERIC: Montage of surfing]
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Nick's halfway through his surf lesson
with Melissa and can see she's having fun and feeling confident
and is enjoying finding the bigger waves. He believes
everyone should be given the chance to take risks if they
want to.
NICK JONES: Dignity of risk is a really lovely phrase about risk
taking fair for everybody. We don't question often, able
bodied people having a go at surfing.
So why would we question if somebody with additional needs,
you can understand the risks involved and we can moderate
those risks. Why can't we get them in?
We love wiping people out like it's a big part of surfing. If
you're getting in the sea and you're going surfing, wiping out
is part of it.
So long as we can wipe out safely, then there's no reason
why we shouldn't wipe out safely.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: There's another team of people on the
beach today who, when training surfers, include techniques to
help overcome nerves and fear in the water. So yeah, we've got
Team England para surfing here today.
NICK JONES: They train with, best para surfing athletes in
the country. And they came forth last year and the world champs.
They do incredible things and part of their training is
getting people out into the surf and pushing their comfort zones,
making them feel less nervous. So they'll be negotiating those
sort of situations.
They're finding out where somebody is super comfortable
and then where can we start if they want to- I mean, want to
push it further, maybe get bigger waves or more potentially
hazardous conditions and more risky maneuvers out in the surf
about looking at how can we make that risk taking feel more
comfortable and then building their skills up with that So
that becomes part of their comfort zone.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Suzanne Edwards is a beach lover and is
hanging out near where Melissa is having her surf lesson.
SUZANNE EDWARDS: I learned to surf when I was quite young. My
family- We spent a lot of our summers in Cornwall and then I
went to university in Exeter.
So you spend a lot of time at the coast surfing. So it became
quite a big part of my life. And then when I was 22, I was in
Morocco, I was working in a surf camp and, had an accident where
I was standing on a balcony, the railing, gave way, and I fell
30ft and broke my back.
So my whole world kind of changed in an instant. I became,
paralyzed from the waist down, a full time wheelchair user.
Suddenly realized that the things that I loved most in
life, which were, surfing and travel, suddenly weren't really
possible anymore.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: But Suzanne did get back in the water and is
now a para surfer and represents England. But there are still
times when she is apprehensive. So how does she overcome her
nervousness?
SUZANNE EDWARDS: I think practice is a is a big thing of,
you know, sort of gradually building up. Always got great
instructors and coaches with me who I feel, you know, 1,000%
safe with.
Give surfing I go. You may not love it, it may not be for you,
but you're not going to know unless you try it. The ocean is
incredible. What it does for you, how it makes you feel. I
think the power of it is so amazing.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Melissa, surfing lesson has come to an
end and she comes out of the sea tired but happy.
NICK JONES: I'm going to do the same in reverse into the chair.
GENERIC: I’ll go grab the chair.
KAREN HALTON: Was that not the best time ever?
MELISSA HALTON: Yeah it is!
KAREN HALTON: I thought it was!
ALAN HALTON: You’ve enjoyed it and not drowned or anything?
MELISSA HALTON: No, no! Sorry!
KAREN HALTON: Daddy’s wet as well!
NICK JONES: I started this and it was a regular surf school and
my aim was to have a fabulous time by the sea.
I had a Tupperware box for cash and I had a written- handwritten
diary, and I was very happy.
But then you start working with different community groups and
you find out different needs and you find that you can work with
them. And then you slowly grow and build into something which
you didn't know that you were meaning to.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Melissa and her family are now warm and dry
and ready to head back home. Nick's been able to give
sessions like this because he originally partnered with the
National Trust Blue Scapes project, offering activities on,
in and beside the water, including yoga, walking, cycling
and paddle sports, including surfing.
It was set up by Sarah Campbell, who, alongside Nick, initially
offered surf lessons for children with autism and special
needs, but it was feedback from those taking part that gave them
the idea to open up sessions that would allow whole families
to do activities together.
SARAH CAMPBELL: The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
It's that time in the water, the social time as a family, and
that feeling of real, positive time in nature. When I see,
participants coming out with the water, I see absolute joy and
pleasure and also that reflected in the faces of the family
around them as well.
Something that that you might take for granted on a daily
basis. Seeing this in action is really powerful.
NICK JONES: How was that Melissa?
MELISSA HALTON: Really fun!
NICK JONES: Okay. I'm pleased.
KAREN HALTON: Yeah the best time.
MELISSA HALTON: Yeah.
KAREN HALTON: You can stop smiling at any time you like,
you know!
We've had an amazing time as a family in the water together and
it's just been a wonderful opportunity. It's going to make
memories that are going to last a lifetime.
NICK JONES: When we get people like Melissa into the water and
her family- tell you what was really exciting is just to
normalize access in the water.
Just going for a surf with the family. Having a nice time in
the sea with the family. That's what it's about. And that's a
real privilege to then be part of that experience.
KAREN HALTON: We'll be back. We’ll be back!
MELISSA HALTON: When?
KAREN HALTON: As soon as we can.
CLAIRE HICKINBOTHAM: Thank you for listening to this episode of
the National Trust Podcast.
If you'd like to learn more about adaptive surfing, please
check out the links in our episode show notes.
To make sure you get new episodes of this podcast, follow
or subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. We'll be
back soon, but for now from me, Claire Hickinbotham, Goodbye.