Blesma News
Latest news from Blesma, The Limbless Veterans
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Operation Varsity Memorial Cycle
25 March 2015
On Sunday 22 March, Blesma Supporter David Alexander set off on an epic, non-stop and unsupported cycle challenge from Colchester to Wessel to remember glider pilots and paratroopers who 70 years ago mounted the largest single airborne operation in history to take place in one day. More than 16,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped on to German territory on March 24, 1945, as part of Operation Varsity, the last big Allied operation of World War Two. David will cycle 555km, following the same route taken on that day in history by several thousand aircraft, glid
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Meet David Bland, the Abseiling Octogenarian!
17 March 2015
On Sunday 24 May at 9.30am, Blesma Member David Bland will celebrate his 80th birthday by abseiling the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, along with eleven friends. For those unfamiliar with the Spinnaker Tower, it is Portsmouth’s most prominent landmark, standing at 560ft (170 metres) and overlooking Portsmouth Harbour. David has been a Member of Blesma since 1955, and is no stranger to daredevil feats of endurance. In 2014, David, along with his son Barrie and several members of staff from his compa
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Brian's 100-mile cycle challenge
10 February 2015
Blesma Support Officer Prosthetics has found himself ‘volunteered’ by the Managing Director of OpCare to join him on an epic one day cycle ride on 3rd June 2015 from Exeter Mobility Centre to the Bristol Centre for Enablement, a distance of 100 miles plus, via Cheddar Gorge. Rob Chatfield of OpCare had the idea of cycling between the two centres, which OpCare operate under contract for the NHS, following an approach by the Blesma fundraising team to support Blesma Week 2015. Rob was inspired to do something personally and as a keen cyclist he decided on this challenge and
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Jumping to the best solution with Jon-Allan Butterworth!
4 February 2015
Ian Jones, prosthetist for Limb Solutions, has been out in Austria to support Jon-Allan Butterworth as he competes in Channel 4's 'The Jump' by creating custom prostheses to make sure Jon-Allan can perform at his best in each of the winter sports events. Ian has kindly written an article for us about what he has been up to: In November 2014 I took a call from a military veteran who was going to take part in Channel 4’s celebrity winter sports programme The Jump 2015. Jon-Allan Butterworth, world champion and Paralympic silver medallist in cycling had
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