Dreams Can Come True by Sarah Offley
On Saturday 22nd July, I had the pleasure of going with a group called ‘Access in Dudley’ to Blackpool. You may wonder why I am sharing this on our blog? Here’s why…we went to make a gentleman’s life dream become a reality.
A little bit about this amazing gent! John is an extremely talented man that plays the organ and can pretty much replicate any piece of music he hears.
John volunteers for Access in Dudley as well as Dudley Voices for Choice and was introduced by his fellow housemate Del. John had mentioned on several occasions that his dream would be to play the Wurlitzer at Blackpool Tower.
The group decided to raise money to make John’s dream come true.
John had no idea what we were up to as we told him we were going to meet another group in Preston! When we stopped at the services, John was told that the group had cancelled and booked us afternoon tea at Blackpool tower.
John was excited to hear the Wurlitzer and was overwhelmed when he got to meet his hero who has played the Wurlitzer for years! We spent the afternoon watching the dancing, eating cake, drinking tea and waiting in anticipation for John’s turn.
At 5pm John was called to the front and told his dreams were coming true. John then spent the next hour playing every song he could recollect from memory (did I mention that John is blind and has no sight at all?) he even got the opportunity to have the stage lowered and rise from below the stage whilst playing ‘I do like to be beside the seaside’.
It was an emotional time for us all and most of us shed a tear. The experience was something that John had always wanted to do and will never forget and I think everyone who was there will always remember.
