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Professor Alan Crockard retires
It is with a mixture of sadness and gratitude that we mark Professor Alan Crockard’s retirement from his formal role as a Trustee of the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia.
Without him there would be no TTA. Without him Robin Tavistock would have died. It was his courage and skill that meant that Robin not only lived, but had a further 15 fulfilling years, during which time he went on to establish the Trust and lay the foundations for the work we continue today. It is no exaggeration to say that Alan did not just save his life—— he helped create a legacy.
Henrietta, Robin’s wife, writes:
“When Robin had his aneurysm, I had virtually no knowledge of what lay ahead. I just knew, instinctively, that I had total belief in what Alan told me and our sons Andrew, Robin and Jamie.
After Alan operated on him, he had put him in an induced coma to rest his brain and when Robin regained consciousness after several days……he was unable to speak.
I was told he had aphasia……I had absolutely no idea what that was or what it meant.
Later on I was told that speech therapy might help. I remember asking Alan about it and him saying to me that if Robin doing it would make me feel better then to go ahead, however he was not sure it would make any difference.
We did go ahead and we were incredibly fortunate that Robin was sent to see Eirian Jones at Addenbrookes Hospital, one of the very best speech and language therapists. We continued to see Alan, and he noticed the improvement Robin was making due to speech therapy. He remarked one day that he rarely saw his patients once they had recovered from his surgery, so was generally unaware of their lives afterwards. When Robin set up The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia, to Robin’s delight he said he would like to become a Trustee. You can imagine what this meant to the TTA, to have such a well-respected senior neurosurgeon as a Trustee.
Alan has played a vital and pivotal role in the life of the Trust. The Trustees will never be able to express adequately their gratitude to Alan for his wisdom, insight and kindness over the last 35+ of service to the Trust. He is our longest serving Trustee.”
Alan writes: “The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia has a very important place in my heart and I am so pleased that all has worked out so that those with aphasia nowadays have so much more help and hope than when Robin was ill. Robin and the Trust have shone a light on a part of neurological recovery that conventional medicine and therapy had ignored and I am so pleased to have been a small part of the process. I know that it will continue to expand globally and influence the recovery of ’speech’. Although not as a Trustee, I will always want to be part of it for as long as the Trust wishes to have me and, as long as I’m able.”
Although Alan may not be a Trustee formally anymore, he remains an Honorary (informal) Trustee and we will all look forward to seeing him at TTA Meetings.
Alan, thank you for your skill, your judgement, your compassion, your friendship and for believing that more could be done, when others did not.
With gratitude and every good wish for your and Caroline’s next chapter, with your family and adventures with all the boys. And of course, taking stunning photographs of beautiful birds.
On 16 December, the Scottish Parliament held its first-ever debate on aphasia. The debate, secured by Rona Mackay MSP, marks an important step forward in raising awareness of aphasia and the real challenges faced by people living with the condition, as well as their families.
The TTA would like to congratulate Dr Abi Roper, part of our Aphasia Software Team, whose efforts were instrumental in bringing this issue to the attention of her local MSP, Michael Marra. Mr Marra also spoke during the debate (video below).
The full debate can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qatWfsiWaY
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The Aphasia Software Finder 
The Aphasia Software Finder has had a significant redesign in 2024 with the aim of making the website more aphasia friendly and thereby easier to navigate for everyone.
To learn more about what you can find and what is new on the Aphasia Software Finder, please watch this short video:
