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Good Samaritans

Wednesday 25 February 2015, 18:41
By John Smith

Margaret and Gordon Kiddle, Good Wincantonians

Back in April 2014 Good Samaritan Gordon Kiddle came to the rescue of Parker, an elderly canine resident of Wincanton who fell down a steep bank and walked in a confused state, almost to Shepton Montague, before falling into a ditch. If Gordon hadn’t spotted Parker he may not have been with us today.

On Friday 30th January it was Gordon’s wife, Margaret, who took on the mantle of Good Samaritan. Gordon was driving Margaret to her doctor’s appointment at the Health Centre. In South Street they noticed an elderly man by the primary school. He was dressed in casual clothing and slippers, clearly not geared to the current cold weather conditions. Assuming that he lived nearby they continued to Margaret’s appointment.

Returning from the Health Centre along Southgate Road, they saw the same man still shuffling along very slowly passing Roberto’s Car Wash. Alarm bells were now ringing, so they decided to make sure that he was ok.

It’s a good job that they did. The man didn’t live on South Street. When Margaret asked if he was ok he said that he didn’t think so. He couldn’t remember where he lived.

The Kiddles took control of the situation and helped him to Lidl’s, by which time he was going blue and shivering. They asked the Lidl staff for help and were promptly taken to the staff room where the confused gentleman was wrapped in something warm and given a hot cuppa to thaw him out.

Fortunately the man was able to remember his name, and after some phone calls they discovered that he was a resident in one of our local care homes. They were called and a member of staff was quickly on the scene to collect the gentleman.

Gordon and Margaret were full of praise for the staff at Lidl’s, who didn’t hesitate to help them to ensure the safety of this confused elderly gentleman. With the current cold weather, and dressed in inadequate clothing the outcome could have been much worse.

Staff at the Wincanton care home have since confirmed that the gentleman, whose name has been withheld out of respect for the family, is now safe and sound after his confused adventure.




Comments


Posts: 1
Comment
Great post
Reply #1 on : Wed February 25, 2015, 18:36:38
I propose, that from this day forth, that in Wincanton dialect a 'Kiddle', becomes a local word for an act of kindness.

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