Caring for Carers
A leading charity founded by Crossroads and ITV
Thirty years after the death of actor Roger Tonge we celebrate the Crossroads Care charity which television saga Crossroads, ITV and ATV Network helped found in 1974.
ATV Network was proud to promote the fact that Crossroads was the first soap with a real social awareness. The ATV Midland production from the outset decided that by reaching millions of viewers it could "do good" in the real world as well as in the fictional world of Kings Oak.
The crew helped many good causes over the years by introducing topical storylines from time to time. In many cases this also went on to help in the real world. One high profile 'good cause' being the founding of a Birmingham hospital ward funded by ATV and Crossroads viewers. It was designed especially for kidney care following a 1977 storyline surrounding one of the main characters undergoing a kidney transplant. Crossroads truly is the only soap that really has changed the world for the better - and it's mainly thanks to the Crossroads Caring For Carers scheme.
In 1974 ATV Network Limited and the Crossroads cast and crew helped found what would become the biggest leading voluntary sector provider of home based breaks for carers in the world.
The needs of carers first came to the attention of the Crossroads production team as a result of the storyline involving the character Sandy Richardson, who was left paraplegic after a car accident. Sandy had been a regular in the show since 1964, and viewers followed his lifestyle change from being a fully able bodied farmer to having to depend on the care of his mother.
Many hours of research were carried out by the Crossroads production team at the Robert Jones And Agnes Hunt Orthopedic Hospital at Oswestry to make sure Roger's performance as Sandy was as authentic as possible. Noel Crane, who was confined to a wheelchair after a swimming accident in 1970, telephoned ATV to offer more advice after seeing an episode of the programme. Reg Watson, producer of Crossroads, met Noel and took on board many more ideas because of the discussions they had.
Reg devised another character. Tony Scott was to be a friend of Sandy - who would be, just like Noel - disabled from the neck downwards. The part was played by Peter Graham, who worked with Noel on perfecting the role.
An ATV Network press release at the time of the storyline noted: "The idea is to show viewers that Handicapped people value their independence and also the devoted care given to them by their relatives."
When Noele Gordon, the actress playing Sandy's mother and carer, was due to take a months holiday the scriptwriters were faced with the dilemma of who would look after Sandy. This they soon realised was, and indeed still is, an issue faced by many carers who have no other help with their caring duties. It was Noele herself who started the wheels rolling for ATV to 'do something about it'. At the time of the story there was no government funded help or any charity offering support.
Usually soaps reflect real-life, but in this case Crossroads turned fiction into reality. Noele spoke with Dr. Richard Hudson-Evans, who was the medical adviser for ATV Midlands' programmes and he backed her idea for a scheme to be set up which would help relatives to take a break from caring for their loved ones. Noele and Dr Richard along with the soaps producer, Reg Watson, approached ATV's Midlands Senior Director, Leonard Mathews, who agreed to fund a pilot scheme which would run for two years in Rugby, Warwickshire, from 1974 onwards.
ATV donated the original £10,000 to establish the service to give carers a break - the Crossroads caring for carers scheme was launched. In the first year of operation Crossroads supported just 28 families. Miss Sankey the then District Nurse Tutor for Warwickshire was given the task of coordinating the Rugby scheme and Leonard Mathews became the Chairman of the Trust.
To start up the venture ATV placed adverts in the regional newspapers and on the local news programme ATV Today coverage of the new scheme was broadcast. Over the following weeks many interviews were held to find suitable candidates to become part of the caring team. At the end of that first round only five care attenders were hired - who went on to be trained in basic nursing and care skills. In the first two ATV funded years over three thousand visits were made by the carers.
The Crossroads Care Attendant Scheme became a national organisation in April 1977. In the same year the EEC made a grant of £100,000 for a research project into housing for disabled people. This project was undertaken by the Crossroads Trust, with a contract being issued by The Department For Environment. The first scheme began in Scotland in 1978.
Sandy continued to be seen in Crossroads up until the actors death in 1981. Roger Tonge's on-screen persona proved popular with young disabled people, many hundreds writing to him every week to thank him for portraying a 'normal' disabled person on-screen. Sandy wasn't a token wheelchair user. His disability was rarely, after the inital caring sceme plot, an "issue" within the show. Instead Crossroads producers showed Sandy leading an everyday life - as assistant manager of the motel, various romances and even joining a charity to help others 'less fortunate' than himself. In 1986 a disabled writer paid tribute to Noele and Roger in the TV Times magazine, but now 30 years on its time to really celebrate the legacy left behind.
The story may have long ended on-screen but it's real-life work goes on. Crossroads Caring for Carers, as of 2010, supported around 200 member schemes throughout England and Wales. There were over 33,000 carers and they spent over four million hours a year providing their services to the venture. Many schemes have grown to provide additional services including Young Carers projects, holiday play schemes for disabled children and care for people who are terminally ill.
Crossroads Care is now the biggest respite organisation in the world.
