JCB is proving a driving force in supporting the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) Programme on the Stanford Hall Rehabilitation Estate (SHRE) in the East Midlands.

The Black Stork Charity, which runs the DNRC Programme, has taken delivery of a multi-tasking JCB 1CXT tracked backhoe loader, together with a range of JCB attachments, to carry out vital maintenance work on the SHRE in Nottinghamshire, near Loughborough.

The 360-acre estate plays a significant part in the overall rehabilitation process.  Patients have a right to roam across the estate for recreational purposes including fishing in the lake and, importantly, to use the 5 km trim trail, the handcycle tracks and the pitch and putt course, as part of their treatment.

The tracked backhoe loader, which retails at almost £55,000, is now in regular use across the estate.  Work is also under way to prepare part of the site for the National Rehabilitation Centre, a new facility for the NHS.

The gift follows an earlier donation by JCB of £2 million towards construction of the Defence element of the programme, which opened its doors in October 2018 as a centre of clinical excellence for injured Service personnel, replacing Headley Court in Surrey.

JCB’s support for the DNRC Programme came about following a conversation in 2013 between JCB Chairman Lord Bamford and Gerald Grosvenor, the late Duke of Westminster.

The Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre initiative provides a vital new facility for the treatment of people who have been injured while in the service of their country. JCB is proud to support the DNRC programme not only financially but also with British-made machinery as it begins its next phase of construction on-site. The JCB ICXT is easy to operate and a great addition to any construction site or agricultural setting, and I am sure it will prove extremely useful as the Stanford Estate continues to grow and become a true asset to the nation.

Lord Bamford |

Jim Boyle, the Rehabilitation Estate Manager, said: "We have had the 1CXT on the estate for several months now and we're very pleased with it. It is great to have the machine at our disposal, not just for sundry day-to-day estate jobs, such as loading and moving timber, but for estate maintenance and repair jobs as well. 

“Shortly after taking delivery of the machine, we had an underground water leak and the dig capability of the tracked backhoe meant we could locate the leak ourselves and repair it without incurring the cost of an outside contractor. As the machine is on tracks, it performed really well on soft ground without causing any ground damage that a wheeled machine would have caused in such soil conditions.

“We're getting ready to clear some ground in readiness for the proposed construction of the National Rehabilitation Centre and the 1CXT will be ideal for that kind of work. We also have a service contract in place with the local JCB dealer, Watling JCB, which means we have the parts and service back-up we need to optimise the availability and productivity of the 1CXT. We are very grateful to JCB for all their support.”

The intention is that the proposed National Rehabilitation Centre will share expertise and facilities with the Defence facility when they are both on the same site, with the overall aim of raising standards of clinical care and rehabilitation programmes for NHS patients.