The new members were bestowed with the honour in recognition of their contributions to British wheelchair sport, with Maughan being acknowledged as Great Britain's first-ever Paralympic gold medal winner at Rome 1960 in both archery and swimming.

"It's a great honour to me, it was a great surprise because it is a long time since I did my active sport, but I'm still very involved and still very interested and proud to have been in at the beginning of it," said the former patient of Sir Ludwig at the National Spinal Injury Centre at Stoke Mandeville.

"Sir Ludwig himself he was my doctor at the hospital.

"I remember the comradeship, getting to know people, we were really a big family together.

"Sport was a very big part of my life."

David Weir said it is a "great honour" to be inducted into the Stoke Mandeville Hall of Fame ©WheelPower


Six-time Paralympic wheelchair racing gold medallist Weir spoke of his pride in joining original Hall of Fame members Sir Ludwig, International Paralympic Committee President Sir Philip Craven and British multiple Paralympic medallists Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and Caz Walton.

"It's a great honour to be here and be named with great athletes and Sir Ludwig Guttmann himself," he said.

"I have many fond memories [of Stoke Mandeville Stadium] and it's like a second home to me, coming here for sports most of my junior career and I still compete  here for the national games and I'm sending athletes here to race from my own academy."

Meanwhile, Loeffler, now a WheelPower vice-president, has been recognised as the longest serving volunteer of the Paralympic Movement since her involvement in the first Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948, while Vestey is credited with being a central figure in the redevelopment of Stoke Mandeville Stadium in 2003 and the £10.2 million ($16.5 million/€12.9 million) raised by the Sporting Chance Committee.

The Countess of Wessex has a go at archery with patients from the Stoke Mandeville spinal unit ©WheelPower


The Royal visit of The Countess of Wessex allowed WheelPower to demonstrate the sporting opportunities for disabled people, with guests being taken on a tour of the stadium where Stanmore and Stoke Mandeville's spinal injury centre took part in table tennis, wheelchair rugby and archery.

"As the owners of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, and as the national organisation of wheelchair sport, WheelPower created the Hall of Fame in 2003," WheelPower chairman Kevan Baker said.

"We are delighted that Her Royal Highness has been able to visit us to unveil these highly worthy new members to the Hall of Fame and also to see firsthand, our work to provide sporting opportunities for people with spinal cord injuries."

The Hall of Fame will be seen by nearly half a million visitors every year at the entrance of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, which welcomes some 40,000 disabled people to take part in sport annually.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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