The NHS saved my life says British Ironwork Centre chairman

Whether it was welcoming coach parties from across the length and breadth of Britain or hosting charity events such as the Colour Run and the spectacular Proms in the Park, it saw hundreds of thousands of visitors through its gates.

Like other visitor attractions Covid decimated the business on the A5 near Oswestry.

For its chairman, Clive Knowles, the year has been not only a fight for the centre’s survival, but his own.

As lockdown hit in the spring, Clive became ill, and had to undergo major heart surgery. Now with family and staff alongside him, he says he is lucky to be looking forward to the future.

The nationwide lockdown meant the British Ironwork Centre fell silent.

Usually someone who is constantly on the go Clive set to and started to keep the 60-acre site’s grass mown.

“It was so difficult to deal with, seeing everything shut down,” he said.

However it did give him the opportunity to spend more time with his family.

“For the first time I was able to do things like play snakes and ladders with the grandchildren. And we started to go out cycling which was wonderful.

“But every time I went up even a small incline I felt a pain down one arm. Looking back that is a classic sign of heart trouble but I put it down to muscular pain, pulling on the handlebars.”

When simply reaching to pick something up brought on the same pains he finally went to the doctor. His first ECG found nothing, but the second saw him blue-lighted to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

The heart problem was confirmed, but the Covid situation meant hospitals were full and he couldn’t even get an angiogram either on the NHS or privately. He went home being told to rest.

“I felt like a ticking time bomb,” he said.

When he eventually got his appointment at the Princess Royal for the test, he was found to have blocked arteries and was sent straight to Royal Stoke Hospital where he had to undergo major quadruple bypass surgery.

“Under such difficult times for the NHS, it saved my life.”

After three to four weeks as a patient he was allowed to return to the family home at the Ironwork Centre site where things were beginning to re-open as restrictions eased.

“When we closed we had to lose our staff and could only bring back those that we really needed to re-open under the restrictions.” The site had been used as a Covid testing centre run by the military but that had to stop as the visitors began to come back.

And the family took the decision to only open during the week and not weekends.

“We have had to wrestle with how we run under such difficult times. We have to ensure our staff our safe and that all the Covid security is in place. It has meant changes that no-one wants to make but I hope our visitors bear with us.”

The Wales national lockdown at half term was a major blow for visitor numbers.

“About half our visitors during school holidays are from across the Welsh border and we lost them overnight.”

“We have also lost our coach tour visits and our special events, as well as some of our older visitors. I would say visitor numbers are down by about 80 per cent.”

“We have to re-invent ourselves until we turn a corner with this deadly virus. It is difficult for businesses. You are told that a vaccine is on the horizon, only to have your hopes dashed as it does not materialise. Keeping our staff and our visitors safe is top priority.”

“I fear that is is going to be a long haul and we have to make our centre absolute Covid secure, somewhere that people can come and feel completely safe, whether that is walking in our beautiful countryside or taking a drive through our sculpture park. We also want to offer a drive-thru meals service.”