The Start of REMAP

REMAP was formed in 1964 by Pat Johnson, an engineer working for ICI at their Billingham plant. Pat had a sister who had infantile polio which presented her with physical problems in coping with her day to day life. 

 At the time Pat founded BMAP - Basic Movement Advisory Panels (later changed to Rehabilitation Engineering Movement Advisory Panels) he was living in Stockton-on-Tees. His sister lived in Hertfordshire and was confined to a wheelchair, but had upper body movement. Because she was widowed, she relied on her children and neighbours for day to day support with her mobility. She even needed help getting her wheelchair down the two front steps to go to the shops.

Pat bought an old black Ford van and repaired it to take a load of scrap timber he had obtained (probably from ICI) down to Hertfordshire. He built a wooden ramp up to his sisters front door and also installed an electric hoist, with a runway, above the ceiling in the hallway, bathroom and toilet of the bungalow. He was particularly pleased with this as the hoist and track were entirely within the roof space, with only the hoist cable and control pulls projecting through a slot, protected by rubber flaps. His sister was overjoyed with the ramp and hoist as they immediately gave her a level of independence she had never enjoyed before.

Pat was very impressed with the immense change his relatively simple improvements had made to his sister's quality of life and became determined to be the catalyst to bring similar benefits to others. The project at his sisters house was what led him to the concept of BMAP/REMAP and soon other engineers at ICI became involved with his idea and helped it to grow. 

Remap steadily grew and now covers the whole of the UK. Operating at a local level its 1500 volunteers design and manufacture special one-off pieces of equipment for people with disabilities where no suitable commercial product is available. The service is available to all and no charge is made to the client. Over 3500 jobs are carried out each year on a total budget of under £200,000. It is estimated that since 1964 over 80,000 jobs have been completed.

Major Pat Johnson RE died in September 2002. Thanks to his vision and effort REMAP still builds ramps and, now, much more. We still use what others consider to be scrap to improve the lives of others. We still use inventiveness and experience to produce innovative solutions to problems so that people can get on with their lives. His ideas have more than stood the test of time and, thanks to him, the lives of thousands of people have been improved.

I am grateful to Tony Johnson, Pat’s son, for providing the information on the foundation of REMAP