Military veteran creates a card board model of Blesma Blackpool
23 December 2013
“That’s what I do. I have done train models, dolls houses – all sorts. This one took 7 months. I went around taking photos of every little bit of the home, it had to be made to the right scale, could not have made it too small. It took me a lot of card board but luckily Mike Ward, the vicar at Blesma Blackpool, who is also a painter had off cuts going spare.”
These are the words of Mike Penney, 66, who designed a cardboard model of Blesma Blackpool. He has been a resident at Blesma, The Limbless Veterans’ nursing home for four years now.
Acting Corporal with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, Mike lost his left leg above knee in 1997 to a road traffic accident in 1995.
After a self-confessed “quiet period” Mike is already working towards his next project, a giant train set. He reckons his ambitious 8/8 feet project will take about a year to complete but will prove a “highly therapeutic experience”.
Blesma, The Limbless Veterans is the national charity for all limbless service men and women, their widows and dependants. It was formed in the years following the First World War and became a national charity in 1932.
Blesma Blackpool was recently awarded the ‘Beacon Status’ Gold Standards Framework in Care Homes (GSFCH) Reaccredited Quality Hallmark Award for the excellent way they care for their residents.
For more information on Blesma Blackpool, please click here.
-ENDS-
Notes to Editor
Hi-res images can be downloaded from the links below
Model of Blesma Blackpool 1 /media/81378/Model-4.jpg
Model of Blesma Blackpool 2 /media/81377/Model-2.jpg
About Blesma, The Limbless Veterans
Blesma, The Limbless Veterans is the national charity for all limbless serving and ex service men and women, their widows and dependants. It is a membership organisation which helps wounded service men and women rebuild their lives by providing rehabilitation activities and welfare support. Their membership includes those who have lost the use of a limb, an eye or the sight of an eye.
Blesma was formed in the years following the First World War and became a national charity in 1932. Blesma today has over 4000 Members and widows. The membership consists of men and women who have served during the Second World War and the many subsequent conflicts and peacekeeping operations since, including the Falklands, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.
About Blesma Blackpool
Blackpool home provides 24 hour nursing and residential care for Blesma Members who require permanent, convalescence or respite, accompanied or unaccompanied by partners. The qualified nursing and care staff are supported by a local doctor and health care practitioners.
Blesma Blackpool is one of 25 homes to have received this award which was presented at the Ninth GSF Annual Conference in London on 27 September 2013. The awards are endorsed by all major care homes’ organisations and Skills Academy for Social Care.
Jacqui Longden, Home Manager Blesma Blackpool says: “The team here is over the moon to have received the coveted ‘Beacon Status’. The recognition goes a very long way in boosting the morale of the staff here who work tirelessly to ensure the highest possible care is offered to injured veterans who have served the Crown. We promise to continue to provide the best for the best.”
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