As a Member’s Association and charity, Blesma is always delighted to hear from all its stakeholders, particularly from the membership. Blesma exists to support its Members, who are the focus of all that the Association does. The fact that 87 pence of every pound spent by Blesma goes to directly supporting its beneficiaries underlines this approach.

What are the rules regarding membership of Blesma for those who have lost the use of limbs?

Blesma has supported non-amputees for many years. The rules of the Association allow membership to all those who, whilst serving or as a result of Service in any branch of HM Forces or Auxiliary Forces:

– Have lost a limb or an eye

– Have permanent loss of speech, hearing or sight of an eye, or use of a limb

Up until June 2016 Blesma did not support those with loss of use of limb who had served but were injured after Service. Due to the anomaly that a veteran can lose a limb outside Service for non-attributable reasons and join Blesma, but a veteran who loses the use of a limb outside Service for non-attributable reasons could not, the rules of the Association were changed.

The changes were discussed by the Board of Trustees in December 2015 and voted on at the AGM in June 2016, where there were only two votes against from the membership. The Articles of Association and Rules were adjusted and adopted in 2016 to cover injury suffered post-Service:

Rule 2.2 (b). All ex-Service men and women, who served in any Branch of HM Forces or Auxiliary Forces, who have lost a limb or an eye, or the use of a limb through traumatic incident, other than through Service-related causes. (c). All men and women of civilian status and all ex-Service men and women, who lose a limb or suffer loss of use of limb, in exceptional circumstances, subject to approval of the Trustees.

All applications for membership of the Association are checked for proof of service and eligibility.

What is the role of the Board of Trustees and how do they work with the staff that Blesma employs?

Blesma is both a charity and an Association, and as such is responsible to its Members as well as to charity law and regulation. The Board of Trustees has the overall responsibility for governing the organisation, as well as overseeing and controlling its management. The membership of Blesma acts to appoint Trustees who demonstrate values such as honesty and integrity, and who are committed to the charity’s aims and values. 

Blesma’s Board of Trustees comprises of not less than nine and not more than 11 elected competent persons. Typically, the Trustees will bring skills, experiences, attributes and areas of knowledge in ‘hard’ skills – legal, financial, communications, management and so on, together with ‘soft’ skills – such as, encourage team working, problem solving and decision making.

Blesma’s Trustees work collectively as a board and take decisions at four formal board meetings each year. Once a decision has been made, all Trustees are bound to support that decision. Blesma aims to have at least 50 per cent of its Board taken from within the membership, although this is not stipulated in the rules. Currently, 60 per cent of Trustees are Members. At present all Blesma’s Trustees are unpaid volunteers.

Blesma’s Trustee board delegates the day-to-day running of the organisation, along with some decision-making powers, to the staff team via the Chief Executive. Where technical knowledge or professional expertise is not present within the staff, Blesma will utilise other professionals, such as lawyers. Through a range of measures including regular reporting, policies, procedures and meetings, the Board is able to scrutinise the work of the Executive to ensure the strategic aims, values and ethos of Blesma are delivered.

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION?

Have you got a question you would like answering? You can write to the Association at 115 New London Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 0QT or send an email to info@blesma.org