Blesma News
Latest news from Blesma, The Limbless Veterans
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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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Jerome Church awarded OBE
25 January 2015
We are pleased to announce former Blesma Chief Executive Jerome Church has been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year Honours List 2015 for services to veterans. Jerome who was appointed chief executive in 2000 and oversaw much of the human cost of miltary activity Afghanistan and Iraq before retiring in 2013. Following a long military career, during which he lost a leg serving in Northern Ireland, he became a Member of Blesma and was appointed the chief executive in 2000. Over the years, he helped steer the organisation throu
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