SAFE RETURN TO UK

Tuesday the 15th of January saw the return to the UK, of one of Vera’s most colourful characters Rick Murtagh.

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Homeless Rick has been seen begging outside many of Vera’s supermarkets for the past 4 years and is well known to many of the English Ex Pats.

He has been staying in an old cortio on the edge of Vera with no running water or electricity, yet he has kept up a cheerful outlook on life until late last year when ill health made life very difficult for him.

The Vera and District Lions took Rick under their wing late in 2011, and, helped with food and clothing and a regular supply of water from the fuente in Mojacar.

Due to the deterioration in Rick’s health, ways of getting him back to the UK were explored by Lion Richard Stone who is a member of The Dover Lions Club and Vera & District :Lions Club Chairman of Welfare Glyn Williams.

Eventually a place was found for him with the Betel a Christian Community in the UK, who specialize in helping people rebuild their lives. They agreed to take Rick if the Lions could get him back to their home in Watford.

The Vera and District Lions decided that they would fund his return to England and Tuesday saw the culmination of some their work, when Rick boarded the plane for Gatwick.

Ricks’s comments as he departed was that he would never be able to thank the Lions Club members for all the hard work they have done to get him back home

The Vera and District Lions wish him all the best for his new life in the UK, and hope that his health will improve over the coming months.