The Blesma Awards: The Jack Trigg Award

The Jack Trigg Award for 2019 was awarded to Mark Bascombe.

The Jack Trigg Memorial award was established in memory of Blesma Member Jack Trigg, who served in the Welsh Guards in World War II and lost an arm in Normandy in 1944.

Following Jack’s passing, a request was made that a silver salver was purchased to recognise personal endeavours or sporting agility. This year, it is awarded to Mark Bascombe.

Former Fusilier Mark had both his legs amputated and lost most of his fingers as a result of frostbite and illness which developed while he was working as a lorry driver. Mark was an active man who had always been in employment and provided for his family.

All that changed after the amputations. He became wholly dependent on his wife and children, and was not able to go out through fear of further deterioration. Eager to return to his life-long hobby of model making, Mark wanted to build a hobby shed but lost his remaining fingers in the process when he dropped a brick on his hand.

Mark gave up his beloved hobby until a routine visit from Blesma, who spearheaded a project to get Mark a wheelchair-accessible structure. In the last 12 months, Mark’s determination and outlook on life have dramatically improved.

He has developed a therapeutic space that he can escape to as well as finding new ways and methods to build his models with no fingers. The impact has been so positive that he has started to record his story (using speech recognition software) to inspire other amputees and disabled model railway enthusiasts.