Last December the Outreach Officers for North East and North West combined forces to put together a landmark Christmas event. The event was the first overnight Activity to have been hosted by the Outreach Officers since they joined Blesma back in 2018.

Over 65 Members met for an overnight Christmas party in Sheffield, including five new Members who had never had the chance to meet up in person before due to coronavirus restrictions. There were two Chelsea Pensioners in attendance, and the youngest attendee was a three-month old baby!  

The evening’s entertainments consisted of an evening meal, MGR Speaker, quiz, raffle and a singer. A surprise for attendees was a drum demonstration from the local Sea Cadets, and a professional photographer was employed to take portraits of Members.

Here is what Outreach Officer NE Adele Miller had to say about the event.

“Just in the nick of time before the dreaded virus took hold we held a first for Blesma, a multi-area Christmas Dinner with an Overnight stay.

The selection of pictures say it all, what joy this gave the attending members after so many months of isolation.  

We believe that the evening was a resounding success, and have had fantastic feedback from our Members. We also had the added extra that one of the members had recently completed his MGR training, so delivered his story to us all. It really united the group, forming a wonderful bond and Member-to-Member support (and banter) for the evening.  It has also led to other members applying to attend the MGR training.

Another great aspect of the night was the attendance of two of the Chelsea Pensioners who have been part of a ‘buddy system’ created during Lockdown. Having met the Members through Zoom meetings during lockdown, it was amazing that they got the chance to meet their new friends face to face.

One amazing thing that has come from this is we now have two Members from different areas who met for the first time that evening, and now attend regular Veterans Cafés together. Their friendship and mutual support has given them the confidence to attend more events. We hope that this is the first of many such events can continue in the future."

Outreach Officer NW Kirsten collaborated with Adele in organising the event for both areas. Here’s what she had to say…

“The event came about from listening to Member feedback. Members had enjoyed the multi area Zoom activities throughout lockdowns and suggested the opportunity to meet other Members at a Christmas Dinner event.

Some also expressed concern about driving time impacting the event, being unable to relax fully, driving home in the dark and the cost of an overnight stay so near to Christmas. To make the event as accessible as possible for those from both areas we decided to include the overnight stay as part of the dinner package. Adele worked really closely with the Hilton Hotel in Sheffield, and they offered the Association a substantial veterans discount. Adele also worked with the local Masonic Hall to provide a quality but cost-effective dinner for our Members.

The highlight for me was seeing members enjoying each others company, face to face after almost two years of restrictions. We were very lucky with the date of the event as the following week many activities were cancelled due to Omicron. It was lovely to see Blesma Members mingling with the Chelsea Pensioners; a relationship that formed over Zoom during lockdown.  In addition, all those in attendance supported the event by taking LFT’s 24 hours prior to the event.

The event was a huge success and it really forged friendships and created a few new ones. It was a happy, fun and relaxing activity!”

Christine Landess, BSO North East also attended the event…

“Adele and Kirsten both worked so hard to organise this amazing and successful event! It was great to witness peer to peer support in action, that’s what Blesma is all about.  Dave, our MGR speaker was brilliant, and this has directly encouraged more of our NE members to apply to the MGR programme.  I think an overnight Christmas event expands the opportunities Blesma’s Outreach Team can offer to Members for a fun night out with their local peers."