By Chris Elliott……..
It was a sunny day on Wednesday 20th June 2018 when many faces, old and new, arrived and gathered under umbrellas for shade on the patio of the Courtyard Inn, Karakum.
After greeting each other and reminiscing of their memories of Terry Carter and his work in founding and running the 112/CESV Volunteers they were addressed by Keith Lloyd who asked them to join him in the Courtyard Restaurant where a slide show presentation would be shown as a celebration of the life and work of Terry Carter in North Cyprus.
The slide show below was presented by Keith Lloyd and he spoke of how Terry who had a long history of first aid and emergency service work, came to Northern Cyprus at the request of Founding President, Rauf Denktaş who had seen what Terry had achieved in Turkey when he had taken his Thames Valley Rescue Medical Unit to Turkey some years before to help following a huge earthquake and then continued to return to Turkey for 9 years or more with his team to provide ongoing advice and training for so many people. Click here to read more of the founding of 112/CESV.
Soon after arriving in the TRNC to meet President Denktaş, Terry set to work planning and helping develop the 112 ambulance service and then formed his own 112/CESV volunteer unit working alongside the TRNC Civil Defence force.
Terry was a very popular character and tried to help as many people as he could and as Eddie Hollely the Secretary of the Bellapais Lodge said I first met Terry and his family in 2005 and we got on well and enjoyed many fund raising and other events together and then I went to a meeting where a group of expat freemasons were discussing the possibility of forming a Masonic Lodge and there was Terry who I discovered had been a mason for many years.
When I contracted bowel cancer Terry introduced me to a top surgeon here on the island and by then, as our Lodge Almoner he was able to get a grant from the Masonic Foundation to help with my treatment here and I can say his help contributed to saving my life and enable me to continue my retirement in Northern Cyprus.
The work of 112/CESV continues in the cable hands of Steve Collard who runs the unit which is now registered as a charity and is able to raise funds for the purchase of equipment that they donate to the TRNC Emergency Services as well as running their training sessions..
Steve also said they will be arranging a new training programme for the TRNC Ambulance Service soon.
You can hear more of what Steve Eddie and Keith have to say about Terry on the sound track shown below.
Soundtrack of Keith Lloyd, Eddie Hollely and Steve Collard talk about their dear departed friend, Terry Carter
Slideshow presentation courtesy of Keith Lloyd.
