"Winter Days" of Ashley Willcocks

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 14 — The sheer beauty of Huddersfield, the imposing Castle Hill and the creative genius that is Ashley Willcocks, must be seen to believe. Current leaders must learn to develop a social architecture that encourages bright people to work together successfully and deploy their own creativity. But there was Ashley, a born leader waiting to be discovered.

Just what is dyspraxia? Developmental dyspraxia is one or all of a heterogeneous range of development disorders affecting the initiation, organisation and performance of action. It is a diagnosis of exclusion which entails the partial loss of the ability to coordinate and perform certain purposeful movements and gestures.

At age 14, Ashley Willcocks is a dynamic young man who I met in Yorkshire on Dec. 19, 2008, while on a pre-Christmas trip to Huddersfield, England, to visit the English mother-in-law of a dear Malaysian friend of mine.

Huddersfield is a large market town within the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, United Kingdom. It is near the confluence of the rivers Colne and Holme. Located within the historic county boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is the 10th largest town in the United Kingdom. It is a town of higher education and sports and home to football league's Huddersfield Town F.C. football club founded in 1908 and the rugby league team, currently titled Huddersfield Giants, founded in 1895. The town is also home to the University of Huddersfield and the sixth form Greenhead College.

While traversing the scenic countryside, from Gloucester to Yorkshire, several thoughts were racing in the innermost recesses of my mind. I could not help thinking of exciting challenges that 2009 would unfurl and new horizons waiting to be discovered through new ideas and new visions.

Inspired by a challenging spirit and an unyielding desire to succeed, I found myself silently blessing each and everyone I met that night on my arrival in Yorkshire, including my host and her family. My fertile imagination racing all the time was fuelled by curiousity and wonder about the world.

I found Ashley intelligent and witty, with great leadership qualities, actively playing without being domineering, with a maturity of poise and assertiveness that is seldom seen in youth. I liked him immediately and when told that he suffers from developmental dyspraxia, loved him even more.

Ashley's accomplished and learned grandma, Sonya, was thrilled to bits while relating joyfully to me of her grandson's writing prowess. She asked me to read a poem written by him when he was 9 and studying at Almondbury Junior School.

His amazing writing skills are quite unusual for a boy of his age. His poem combines beauty of thought, language and artistic form and in my judgement is supremely harmonious and satisfying.

Here is his beautiful poem - "Winter Days."

Building snowmen over there
I throw snowballs at their hair.

The ice-cold wind gives me a chill,
The cat sits on the window sill.

The icicles make no sound,
I bet they're worth a million pound.

The ice has started to melt.
I knew how it must have felt.

As the parents start to cheer,
Some start boozing on the beer.

Then the sun starts to appear,
The ice begins to disappear.

A time-tested fact quickly comes to my mind that people are the most valuable organisational assets and capable of immense achievement. However, one has to help them believe it too.