CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Steve learned to love this place – and the birds that thrive here – as a child. “When we were kids my dad took me and my brothers out on trips across the island, birdwatching. Sheppey was a great place to grow up for that, and it still is.”

Steve’s interest in nature deepened and by the age of 15, he was a big fan of natural history programmes, loving The Really Wild Show and anything touched by the genius of David Attenborough. Naturally, he wanted to be a TV presenter, too. Steve’s school had other ideas, however. “I went to my careers teacher and said I wanted to be a presenter on wildlife programmes. I was told to forget it.”

His love of nature and the countryside was not a passing phase, however; and now Steve has had the opportunity to fulfill his childhood dreams by helping to present both Springwatch and, since April this year, Countryfile.

As these achievements illustrate, Steve’s tale (see box, left) is one of striving for self-improvement in the face of the challenges thrown up by disability, caused by injuries that were sustained when he had a fall from a balcony in 2005.

“I broke my neck, but there’s no point in being defined by that, by giving up and not living,” he says. “Obviously it’s not ideal and sometimes I think: ‘What if I’d gone out for a meal that night rather than stayed in? I wouldn’t have been on the balcony.’ But you can’t live like that.

“In the end, you are the centre of your own world and you have to make the most of the choices and chances that come your way.”