WEDNESDAY, JULY 11: Age has never been a barrier for Fred Clipper.
For the last three decades ‘Clip’ — as he is affectionately known — has devoted so much time to the Red Cross that their headquarters on Point Finger Road is named after him.
He turns a tender 102 in a couple of weeks and is looking to cut back on a few of his more physical tasks.
Clip and his daughter, Ros Clipper, have been delivering hospital beds to homes for the last 12 years.
He also pops into the office twice a week to mend and maintain the charity’s wheelchairs.
But now the Bermuda Red Cross is looking to recruit a few more male volunteers to take the reins from Mr Clipper and help distribute their hospital beds to families across the island.
Mr Clipper told the Bermuda Sun: “I am just an ordinary man who has lived a lot longer than anyone else.
“I love the work I do at the Red Cross and I do it because I still can.”
Mr Clipper’s long association with the charity began in 1982 when his son’s family visited Bermuda from the UK and he rented a crib from the Red Cross.
He said: “When I took the crib back I told them there were a couple of things that needed to be fixed on it.
“Peggy Cooper, who worked at the Red Cross at the time, knew I had just retired and so she suggested I fix it.
“The next day my wife and I went on holiday but when we came back to Bermuda the Red Cross phoned me and asked me when I was starting.
“I guess it all started from there.”
Ms Clipper added: “We have been delivering the beds together for the last 12 years now to homes up and down the island.
“The time has come when we could do with a little help.
“My dad is nearly 102 and he still helps me lift the beds into the truck and then he helps me put them together at the other end.
“It is a very simple job, it just requires a bit of brawn.
“We get called out at all times of the day to all parts of the island.
“Some weeks we will have four deliveries, while other weeks we will have four.”
The charity’s director, Ann Spencer-Arscott, is keen to recruit a group of around eight volunteers to help deliver hospital beds.
She added: “We have had a very good response so far from the public, but we are still keen to hear from people who think they can help.
“We are still putting a list of names together.
“You do not need to have any mechanical or health expertise, all you do is take the hospital beds out and then put them together.
“They are simply too big to be transported while they are opened up.”
If you want to help the Bermuda Red Cross, call Ms Spencer-Arscott on 236 8253.