Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2017 | Page 22

Interview
Bill Price (left) and Roy Hayward at the 1992 Blesma awards. Picture courtesy of the IW County Press
Back home
As he waited for his new limbs to be made by
specialists at the famous Roehampton facility,
Roy returned home to his parents in Surrey,
where he attempted to pick up the pieces of
his life.
“I had to wait some time for my legs because
there were thousands of us who had lost limbs
during the war” he said.
“I found it hard not being able to get about,
especially as I had always been keen on rugby,
football, cricket and swimming.
“But relatives and friends were a real help,
taking me out in the car and that sort of thing.
In fact I have to say that all through my life, I
have found people have been extremely kind.”
After some months, Roy received his
prosthetic legs, but because there were so many
amputees, he jokes that it was pretty much a
case of “here are your legs – get on with it!”
Much as he appreciated them at the time for
getting him back on his feet, those first artificial
legs were a world away from the modern ones
he wears now.
Made from unforgiving metal below the knee,
they were attached to a leather corset that
went to the thigh, and were harnessed over the
shoulders with straps - a far cry from today’s
Roy and Barbara’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1998
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