Stratford pensioner grateful for help received after bicycle accident

An ambulance was called for the woman.

“You could headline it ‘passerby helps pronged pensioner’.

Miss J Smith may have broken her collarbone in a recent accident, but her funny bone is certainly still intact.

Miss Smith, who doesn’t wish to give her first name for privacy reasons, called into the Stratford Press office last week, seeking to publicly thank the “lovely person” who came to her aid in late May this year.

“I was cycling to the Anglican Church on the Tuesday evening, when suddenly I wasn’t. I came to on the ground, I must have lost consciousness, and there were all these people around me.”

While she doesn’t remember what happened herself, Miss Smith says she understands she collided with a garden bed, and came off her bike.

“A kind passerby had stopped, and they had some medical knowledge. They helped me and got a sling and put my arm in it for me.”

A former nurse herself, Miss Smith says she quickly realised her collarbone was broken, and the passerby’s quick action helped alleviate the pain, and keep her arm still.

A couple of workmen from a nearby roadworks site also came to help, she says, moving their truck closer to give her somewhere warm to sit while waiting for an ambulance.

“Someone else went to the Anglican church to get help, a lady came out with a blanket for me, then the minister came too and prayed with me which was nice.”

Miss Smith had actually been on her way to the church at the time, she says.

“They offer free te reo lessons on a Tuesday, a few of us go, there are normally around 10 or so of us each week. I really enjoy it, it’s a good way to learn, we do singing, and a lot of repetition because that’s how you keep things fixed in your mind.”

She says she is now comfortably recovering, although it will be a few more weeks until her collarbone is completely healed.

“I just want to thank the lovely people who came to help me. Everyone was so lovely.”