At the end of January, I received an unexpected email from Muscular Dystrophy UK which read:

Dear Joe,

I am delighted to share that you have been nominated for a Muscular Dystrophy UK Stronger Together Award.

Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition of your contributions to our community over the last year! We are pleased to formally invite you to the awards.

Best wishes

Andrew Fletcher | Chief Executive
Muscular Dystrophy UK

The event would take place on the 36th floor of Salesforce Tower in Bishopsgate, London on the 20th of April. I genuinely didn’t expect to win but I knew I had to go. It would be a great opportunity to meet others but also a great excuse for a city break.

We travelled down on the 19th, a Sunday. As there were no trains running to London from Glasgow that day we had to go via Edinburgh. We dropped the (not so) wee one off at her grandparents who live close to Paisley Gilmour Street Station which allowed us to hop a 15 minute train to Glasgow Central.

We then had to cross from Glasgow Central to Glasgow Queen Street, picking up snacks along the way, to catch the train to Edinburgh Waverley and then finally Waverley to King’s Cross.

Six and a half hours later, we were passing the giant queue lined up to see the trolley embedded in the wall at Platform 9¾.

We arrived at 17:20 after a short delay and set off to our hotel, the Premier Inn Hub at King’s Cross. The Hub is a more compact arrangement but in all honesty it was nicer than other Premier Inn hotels I’ve stayed in.

We booked an accessible room which offered plenty of space for my wheelchair and Triride. The room also had an accessible toilet with a wall mounted shower seat, adjustable grab rails and enough emergency cords to make sure I’d be found whatever direction I might happen to fall.

We nipped out shortly after, grabbing some food at Coal Drops Yard, going for a wander and grabbing a few alcoholic drinks at very sobering prices. We were still hungry later as the food we had wasn’t particularly substantial. Through the magic of Just Eat we had a pizza delivered and that was our day.

The next morning we decided to make a trip to Camden, following the canal path just behind Coal Drops Yard. Before doing so we picked up a coffee and an almond croissant cookie from Redemption Roasters, a coffee shop that employs people who have experienced prison. I’d highly recommend you stop by. Great coffee, great cause.

We lazily followed the canal path, stopping to observe ducks and ducklings, coots and rogue cyclists, though we didn’t admire the last lot. I was surprised that the paths were in mostly good condition but you need big arms or power to get along them.

We spent time exploring the area and navigating the market. I’ve been to the market in the past using my manual chair, just about thrown out of it every few wheels. This time we had the Triride which made light, if not bumpy, work of the experience.

My highlight of the market was Cyberdog, a shop that sells rave clothing and accessories. Inside you’ll find large robots lining the walls.

The reason it was a highlight was the staff member coming up to me as soon as they saw me, directing me to the accessible route downstairs. Not only this but they had printed out pieces of paper for visitors to keep which is why staff are often the difference in whether a venue meets my needs or not.

We stopped by for the obligatory photo with the Amy Winehouse statue. When I felt suitably shaken by the Camden Market cobbles we visited Gail’s for a coffee, although I mainly went there to use the loo. We sat by the canal with our coffees then went back.

When we’d freshened up and were suitably glam we caught the tube from King’s Cross St Pancras out to Liverpool Street Station.

I have a confession. I hadn’t been to London (excluding catching a flight for our honeymoon 17 years ago) in my 40 years on the planet. Since starting work at Euan’s Guide I’ve been five times. I’d always been hesitant to visit but now I’m growing fonder of England’s capital city. The underground is never not stressful for me and not for the reason you might expect. My issue isn’t boarding the train or navigating the station but people in a rush not watching where they’re going and being obsessed with using the accessible ticket gate even when there are five vacant ones.

Did I cut someone up as they rushed to it?
Yes.

Am I proud of myself?
Yes.

Probably not great travel advice but it made me feel a bit better.

Although we got to Liverpool Street on the underground there wasn’t actually a tube route back. The return journey would be by bus but that was far from my mind as we made our way to Bishopsgate.

We wandered about and went to a bar for 45 minutes for a drink before heading to Salesforce Tower.

The attendees gathered in the foyer near the front desk which had the largest fish tank you’ve ever seen outside the Sea Life Centre. Home to what I can best describe as a rainbow of fish and a moray eel, this triggered a flashback to the Dire Dire Docks level of Mario 64.

When we were signed in we were led in groups through the turnstiles and to the great glass elevator. It took off like a shot, racing up towards floor 36. I felt my stomach trailing three floors behind on the ascent but it was amazing to experience and see the city from a new vantage point.

When my internal organs had resumed their usual positions we spent some time chatting to the organisers and CEO Andrew Fletcher and Martin Hywood, New Business Officer whom I’ve known through social media for ages.

We also chatted to Kiera, Head of Challenge Events and Community Fundraising at MDUK, who had humorously mistaken me for my friend Jono who was set to run or roll the London Marathon on the 26th of May.

I struggle to push myself on the court at rugby but Jono wheeled an entire marathon with no gloves because he’s just built different. Jono, if you’re reading this, I’m immensely proud of you, though I also think you’re a madman, but in the nicest way possible.

We collected a glass of wine each and took our seats. As we did, I thumbed through the event brochure and found my name listed under the Community Support Champion section alongside Ann and Martyn Cater who were recognised for setting up a local support group that provides regular information and updates for people living with a condition and a vital link with the Sheffield neurological team, and Priyaneet Kainth, a long time supporter of MDUK who has been an essential part of growing their South Asian Neuromuscular Community group.

I had a moment where pride swelled up inside of me. It is astonishing that this very blog, the impact I’ve had on others through my writing and what I do day to day led to this moment.

I’m just a wee guy that writes stuff and now I’m in a skyscraper in London up for an award. If you had told me this two years ago I’d have laughed, hard.

The Community Support Champion category was the first to be announced so at least I wouldn’t have to wait long to learn who won.

And the winner is…

Joe Logue.

The world slowed down for a beat as I processed the news. It was exciting to hear but also a little bittersweet to know that the other nominees who do amazing work weren’t given the award, although Priyaneet was highly commended in the category.

I wheeled over to collect the award from Gabby Logan from TV who is also the MDUK President and posed for photos. Then I had to give a speech. I was not prepared. Gabby commended my effort, describing it as tireless. In my response I joked about it being tiring, ultimately expressing gratitude that my lived experience can help others. On the night many amazing people were recognised.

The full list is here but I’d like to give a shoutout to Tahira Mathur who won the Peter and Nancy Andrews Award for Community Achievement. I first met Tahira when we were featured on the Muscles Matter Podcast two weeks earlier to discuss the realities of being a parent with a muscle wasting disease and here we both were collecting an award!

The rest of the evening flew by. As there were so many people I didn’t get the opportunity to speak with everyone, although we gave it a good try. We rode the elevator down and made our way to the bus stop, award safely stored in a box. We caught the 205 back to King’s Cross which only took 20 minutes and in retrospect I wish we had taken the bus out.

One of my favourite things about London transport is the buses. All of them have ramps which often helps avoid grumbles from a driver who has to unfold a manual one. The ramp is in the middle of the bus, the doors close as it’s lowered and reopen when the ramp is set. As I can’t get to the card reader at the front of the bus, I also don’t have to pay.

When the doors opened on our arrival at King’s Cross the driver shouted “everyone on legs get off first”. EVERYONE ON LEGS! I had to ask what he said as I was sure I misheard him. But all the same we got to where we were going. I had a sneaky celebratory beer at the hotel before calling it a night.

The way back home was supposed to be more direct as the train from Euston to Glasgow was running but we wound up experiencing a two hour delay thanks to a plastic bag on the overhead wires. We had to disembark at Wigan after the train was forced to go backwards. I’ll go over what happened next some other time as I want to end this blog with a positive.

I’ve laboured over the right words to express my feelings about the event but I keep coming up short. I like to think I’m generally good with words, being a writer and all, but it’s such a challenge to articulate just how moved I feel, both at the time and upon reflection.

In short, I’m blown away. I appreciate that people not only value the work I do but feel that I should be recognised for it. It’s easy for us to get on with daily life without considering how we affect the lives of others or how our experiences can help people we’ll never meet, but that’s what being human is all about and I think that’s beautiful.

Of all the words in the English language, there are two that sum up everything I want to say to everyone who has joined me, or has yet to join me, on my journey.

Thank you.