Last wish: Ride in an 8-litre Bentley

 

We received an email from Sally Field last month telling us about her ailing husband, artist James Field's last wish, which was to ride in an 8-litre Bentley. We put out her story to our readers and soon she was to be overwhelmed by the generosity of the vintage Bentley community.

 

Below is Sally's e-mail recounting their Bentley 8-litre adventure:

 

26th July 2018

Dear All,
I have been truly overwhelmed by the response to my e-mail, truly believing it was a long shot but hoping maybe one person could offer something, I wasn’t even sure what I was asking for, I just knew it meant a lot to my husband. However, who would believe there would be so many vintage Bentleys out there and that they were owned by such generous people?

 

 

The story since

We were up in London, to attend a GAVA (Guild of Aviation Artists) Exhibition. James was receiving his certificate, showing he had been made a full member; a huge achievement and feeling of professional pride for James. For the event, he went all eccentric artist on me and dyed his beard purple (a colour that has run through our marriage, another story). Family attended, and I suffered some embarrassment as he called me to stand too. He made a brief statement of thanks for the award but also to me, feeling he would not be there receiving that award without me. Tears held back, we enjoyed the moment, it was a special event for much more than the award to me. James was bursting with excited energy, could this man truly have this incurable disease? We walked from the afternoon event, a short step across Horse Guard Parade, for the RAF centenary display of aircraft. Then topped off the day, treated to a Mexican meal by my sister and brother in law. Could it be any better?

 

The next day I woke at 5am, keen to continue his wish list. I say "as we are awake early, I reckon we could do Greenwich and the Maritime museum and get back here by 4? Then we'd have time to get ready and back to the Mall for the Leonard Cheshire Charity event, starting at 6.30pm." James reminded me they probably wouldn't be open for a while yet, indeed much later at 10am! OK so it would be tight but he wanted to go, so I was determined to make it happen.

We were in Greenwich shortly after 10 am, my phone hadn't charged overnight, so I ignored emails and concentrated on pics. By 2 pm I was flagging, so sought a seat and a charge point (with permission). No seat available but with a sturdy pillar, for a back rest, I sat on the floor and plugged in. At this point, there were at least 10 fresh emails regarding Bentleys. One man Robert Bentley, had sent three! I could see they had all arrived in the morning and one with a phone number and asking me to phone. I was getting in a bit of a flap now, as I tried to quickly email back, James still didn't know.

 

With that James turns up, "Do you have to do that now?" irritated. "Yes" my short reply, "I'll tell you why in a minute!" I get an email again, "ring me!" No signal, only WiFi, low battery, need to go outside and explain to James why I was going mad!

I couldn't get through, Robert "Rob" Bentley was ringing me! "Hi, it’s Rob here... The car is in Wandsworth!" You are kidding me, where we are staying! "How long would it take you to get back?" “About an hour give or take?” says I. "I will have the car outside your friend’s place at 3.10pm, I can't be there but Tony my driver can" “What? Really? OK, thank you, we’ll be there!” I can't believe this, and now James can't either, as I explain my subterfuge!

An hour later there is the car waiting in the street for us! James face was a picture. His purple beard faded but still present, was a bit of a contrast to the beautiful Vintage Bentley Coupe in front of us!

Here aresome photos, the only thing we didn't do was sit James in the driver seat for a pic. How stupid, but it was such a whirlwind, there was no time to prepare or think really.

James must have grinned for 48 hours straight. He kept saying, “I can’t believe I am in a prestigious Leonard Cheshire Event and that is not the best thing that has happened to me today!”

 

James has been to the docs three times this week, despite the June scans showing no apparent spread to the rest of his body. This has culminated in another MRI being arranged, onto the next part of our journey.
Despite the interminable march of this small cell cancer, James continues to work for now, indeed has 4 commissions he hopes to do, health willing. He lives to paint. He also has a small “thank you” painting on the go, of the afore mentioned Bentley Coupe, for Mr Robert Bentley, who made his day!

For those people that have contacted me, I am truly grateful for such generosity and heart-warming responses. Mr Robert Bentley rather stole your thunder, but to you all I say a very big THANK YOU!

 

Yours,
Sally

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

James Field is currently still painting / illustrating although tiredness has reduced the workload. He has just been made a full member of GAVA, Guild of Aviation Artists. You will find his artwork on both GAVA’s website and his.

James Field Illustrations

James' website: www.jamesfieldillustrations.co.uk