Rutland care home, run by Barchester Healthcare, helps Falklands War veteran relive past at air museum

A care home helped a Falklands War veteran relive special memories with a ‘dream’ visit to a military museum.

Tixover House Care Home, in Rutland, organised a trip for resident Michael Sidwell to visit King’s Cliffe Airfield Museum, along with his son and his family.

Michael, who has dementia, served in the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment and was part of the British Army task force sent to retake the Falkland Islands following invasion by Argentina in 1982.

During the visit, Michael, who was based in the Faklands throughout the conflict, was presented with a piece written about the war by someone who served alongside him.

Before retiring, Michael served at Wittering between 1980 and 1988 in the EOD bomb disposal unit and was also a tank driving instructor.

He trained for EOD in 1971 while serving in Kinloss, in Scotland, between 1968 and 1978, and then served in Cyprus from 1978 to 1980.

As an armourer, Michael created numerous weapon designs and also served in Germany, Malaya, Singapore, Iceland and the United States.

Michael thoroughly enjoyed the visit and said, “I could sit here all day”, while his son was full of emotion reading stories about his father during the war.

His family added: “Thank you for giving my father a wonderful day out. He truly deserves it.”

Tixover House head of activities, Caroline Geddes, said: “I would like to to thank all those who supported us in making our resident’s dream come true.

“Doing something of this nature is so heart-warming, to see the difference you can make just through listening and understanding your residents, it truly is a memory I will cherish for always.”