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Time was passing , everyone was looking forward to the summer. Lesley and Ian were going to the TT Races on the Isle of Man soon, something I would have liked to do in our motor bike days.

Steve had decided to sell his motor bike now he was working locally, he wasnt that keen on it especially as it had a top speed of 30m.p.h.. It was snapped up very quickly. Dennis was behaving himself but hadnt as yet got a job. Life was ticking along quite nicely.

My Dad and Mrs Smith were staying at my Dads flat and Dennis, Steve and myself decided to go and visit them this sunday evening as we hadnt seen them for a while as they had been in Rotherham for the past 6 weeks or so. We loved visiting my Dad as we always had such a laugh.

As usual the first thing that was said ,other than hello ,was do you want a cup of tea and of course we all did. It was a really good night my Dad was on top form. I dont think any of us had had such a good laugh for ages. Before we knew it it was 10.30pm so we said goodnight and went home.

We hadnt been indoors any longer than 30 mins when the telephone rang, it was Mrs Smith in a terrible state, saying my dad had been dancing around and had fallen and hit his head on the television stand and he wasnt moving. I was terrified, as if you remember, my Dad had a tumour removed from his brain in 1948 and had a part of his skull removed and we had always been scared of him hitting his head. I shouted to the others what had happened and we all dashed out and jumped in the car . We were there in 2 minutes and my Dad was laid on the floor unconscious. I immediately dialled 999 for an ambulance and explained what had happened, they said they would be there a.s.a.p.

It seemed to take ages and I rang them again and they said they were en route and should be there any nminute. Mrs Smith was in a terrible state as were we all. We all felt so useless. At last the ambulance arrived, I explained about my Dads operation and they did what they had to do and Dennis and Steve went in the ambulance with my Dad and I had to stay and take care of Mrs Smith. I decided it would be better to take her to our house. We had had such a good time with my Dad that night he had obviously still been on a high and was messing about after we had gone home.

I couldnt bear the thought of anything happening to my Dad and really wanted to be with him but I knew he would prefer me to stay with Mrs Smith. We went home and I made us a cup of tea ,the panacea of life. I asked her if she wanted to sleep here and she said yes, she didnt want to go back to the flat.

Dennis and Steve came home , my Dad was in intensive care and they werent allowed to stay with him. Things were different then. They said they would ring us if there was any change and that we could ring at anytime. I rang Lesley and told her and I would have to wait until morning to tell Sheila.

Mrs Smith said she didnt want to go to bed so I stayed up with her, we were just waiting for the phone to ring in some ways to tell us he had woken up but not in other ways in case it was bad news. I rang the hospital at around 3.00am but there was no change he was still unconscious.