To whom it may concern

I sustained a severe traumatic brain injury following a fall from a cargo door in the Royal Air Force in 2007. I was maintaining the cargo door and fell 16 feet on to the pan at RAF Brize Norton. After my accident I ended up being medically discharged from service. Working on aircraft getting my hands dirty, problem solving and repairing aircraft was my dream job. When I had my accident this was all taken away from me due to my injury and mental state. To say the least I was deflated, empty and felt worthless, due to not been able to work as an aircraft mechanical technician.

I was lucky enough to have the RAF Benevolent Fund who did an assessment and gave me the funds to purchase a mini. Which was amazing and overwhelming. The mini was funded for me to have mental stimulation and help me with my depression. My dream is to complete a full nut and bolt restoration on him. I started to strip the mini down and found as always that dreaded rust and holes in panels. Which then stopped me in my tracks due to the fact that I was not in a financial position to carry on the restoration. I brought the panels I could and fitted them to the shell.

Just prior to Covid my RAFA representative Cliff doe had a contact with the now late Paddy Hopkik. Paddy in conjunction with John Yea from British Motor Heritage and a gentleman called Gordon Bruce asked me for a wish list of panels to get me on track with the restoration. Amazingly I was donated the requested panels as can be seen on British Motor Heritage Facebook site in March 2022.

Due to health again my mini had to wait until the restoration could continue. I had spells in hospital with Temporal arteritis(a blood clot in my temporal artery). Fast forward to march this year. I chatted to Ralph Hoiser who works with mission motorsport which help injured service personnel. Ralph posted on his Facebook site to see if anyone he knew in the Lincoln area who could help me with welding.

Now my mini is having full on heart surgery with brain surgery combined to bring him back to life. Andrew Hinman has suspassed all expectations with the skills and expertise he has transformed a sieve to a conpletley solid shell. Andrew also donated some panels which put a lump in my throat as he never needed to do this. Andrew gave the mini the nickname Trigger.

The registration of my mini is R369 OBD he is a latter mini model however still the iconic shape. I appreciate your time In reading my story. If you was able to help in any way it would be appreciated and also you would be part of getting this mini back on the road where he belongs. I will create a facebook page to show the progress of Trigger the mini. If you look at the British Motor Heritage face book site you will see my mini and the story which clarifies this.

Thanks for reading