John Bowen and his wife Lou are looking fit and tanned in the summer heat: the patio at their Gloucester bungalow is the perfect suntrap.

It’s not just the weather, though, that makes this summer so different from last year’s as Katie Jarvis found out.

A year ago almost to the day – on August 11, 2017 – the unthinkable happened.

John suffered a major heart attack while working up a ladder in Shortwood.

Falling 20 feet onto concrete, he broke his neck and back, causing permanently paralysis from the waist down.

Up until that moment, John – a Nailsworth-based painter and decorator - had been enjoying life to the full.

Sporty, sociable and a keen mountaineer, only the week before he’d been tackling climbs at Wintour’s Leap viewpoint in Chepstow.

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A year ago John suffered a major heart attack while working up a ladder, and broke his neck and back when he fell 20ft onto a concrete floor

From being a man who couldn’t keep still, he became a man who couldn’t move. During those first few months on the spinal unit at Salisbury Hospital, he was hardly allowed to twitch a muscle for fear of making the damage worse.

But the message John and Lou want to give the world, on this fateful anniversary, is as far from self-pity as you can get.

On the contrary: they want to express their gratitude to the friends, colleagues and strangers who’ve given them unstinting support throughout the past 12 months.

“You’d search forever to find another town like Nailsworth,” John says.

He’s been bowled over by the generosity of local people – particularly fellow traders – who have rallied round to help.

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“You’d search forever to find another town like Nailsworth,” John says - pic: Julie Allen

Anna Read from Clobber – where Lou works part-time – and Philippa Kenzie from Peter Joy have been instrumental in setting up an account where well-wishers can contribute to vital private physio for John.

“At the moment, I’m concentrating on getting strong,” he says. “I left hospital in a weakened state; I was six-and-a-half stone, at my worst. The NHS has been fantastic but, in terms of physio, there’s very little they can do.

“The fund Anna and Philippa have set up is paying for a private therapist three times a week. That helps keep my circulation, muscle-tone and bones healthy.”

It’s impossible for the couple to go back to their quaint Nailsworth Cotswold-stone cottage: it would never accommodate a wheelchair, though they’d love to return to the town if they ever could.

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John and Lou had to leave their quaint Cotswold-stone cottage. Pic: Gary Watkins

In the meantime, they’re beyond grateful to Lou’s parents, Bonnie and Ivan Taylor, who handed over keys to a bungalow they were doing up to sell, telling John, “This is yours for as long as you need it.”

“While John was in hospital, I saw people who couldn’t work because of accidents, who ended up not being able to afford to stay in their homes,” Lou says.

“One lady would cry on the phone all the time, trying and trying to find somewhere suitable for her and her injured partner to live.

“John and I have been so lucky.”

Anyone who knows Lou and John will vouch for their good-humour and popularity.

They’re a couple who constantly think of others – such as 26-year-old Will Bennett, whom they befriended in hospital, now a double-amputee and paraplegic after a climbing accident in the Avon Gorge.

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John is now full of plans to raise money to help those he considers worse off than himself. Pic: John Pettitt

As soon as John is well enough, he’s full of plans to raise money to help those he considers worse off than himself.

“Since the accident, I think in much gentler, more humanitarian terms; much more about others. I’m not quite so important – this is what hospital taught me, seeing other people’s plights.”

When Paul Dowdeswell was trying to think how to help John Bowen, he had a sudden brainwave – “Let’s support two worthwhile causes at once!”

The co-owner of Nailsworth butcher Country Quality Meat, Paul has known John and Lou for a long time.

“Lou is well known to everyone in town, and has been a customer here for 15 or 20 years,” he says. “They’re real ‘Nailsworth’ through and through. They’d both do anything for you.

“We were all devastated when John had his accident. Mike [Riggs, fellow co-owner] went to visit him in hospital. At one point, it didn’t look like John was going to survive.”

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Nailsworth has a thriving community of businesses who support the town and its inhabitants.  The markets held throughout the year are a popular treat for visitors.

Country Quality Meat has long had a minimum-waste policy that means all possible containers are reused, and bones are given to customers for their pets in return for a contribution to the Cobalt Appeal Fund.

But Paul and Mike are also determined to cut down on plastic, encouraging customers to bring in their own reusable containers.

“I suddenly thought we could encourage this, and give something back to help John.”

As a result, Paul has got together with Graham Stemp, manager of Brutons Hardware, just across the road.

For every eco Lock & Lock food storage container a customer buys, Graham will donate 25p to John Bowen’s fund. And if buyers then go to Paul’s for meat to put in it, he’ll donate 25p more.

The initiative will run for six weeks.

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The community in Nailsworth has a reputation for coming together to support what is important to them. Pic: Calvin Samuel‎

“We’re very happy to back this; we like to help the local community in any way we can,” Graham Stemp added. “We’re selling a lot less packaging as customers become more aware of the plastic issue.”

Philippa Kenzie of Peter Joy and Anna Read of Clobber – both Nailsworth businesses – were determined to do something to support John and Lou, as soon as they heard about the accident.

Philippa owns the town’s estate agent, and Anna the clothing shop where Lou has worked part-time for the past 14 years.

“Lou is such an amazing character,” Philippa says. “I didn’t even know about John’s accident until about four months after it had happened because Lou kept it so quiet. I only found out when I went to see Anna.”

But when she did, the two of them began to hatch a plan: they wanted not only to raise money to help the couple, but to find a way of providing ongoing support.

Neither felt comfortable asking for money; but both plucked up the courage: “This was too important a cause,” Philippa says. “The first business I approached was Bailey Eyecare when I went to get my eyes tested. Not only did the owner say ‘yes’; he also said that John might well need special glasses and, if so, he would provide them.”

From then on, the offers came in thick and fast. So far more than 20 Nailsworth traders have signed up to regular donations, and more are joining as the scheme becomes widely known.

Anna, also, has been moved by the enthusiasm people have shown for their fundraising venture. One Clobber customer set up a standing order, saying, “Lou is unforgettable. If I had a pound for every time I pick up an article of clothing and then think, ‘What would Lou say?’ I would be a millionaire.”

“Lou is so popular in Nailsworth. We’ve found that people are more than willing to help, which is wonderful,” Anna said.

The money will go towards providing specialist physio for John that he could not otherwise afford.

Local charities also helping John and Lou include the Mark Townsend Charitable Trust, set up by family and friends of Mark Townsend from Avening.

While Nailsworth Rotary Club president Jonathan Bowen-Davies, who took up position on July 1, has named John as one of two charities for his year in office.

To follow John’s story, and to donate, visit facebook.com/johnsjourneynailsworth

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