Monthly highlights from Blesma Chelmsford. Updates on the Membership, fundraising & campaigns!
Blesma’s Chief Executive Jon Bryant has recorded a message of introduction for the Membership.
In his message he thanks predecessor Barry le Grys and Ops Director Ian Waller who held the post on an interim basis. He talks of the unusual start he has had at Blesma due to the COVID-19 crisis, reflecting on how this is ‘not how he expected to meet the Members’. Watch Jon's video here.
- Join Blesma in singing with the Nation the VE Anniversary -
As you may be aware this year marks the 75th Anniversary of VE Day. While ordinarily this milestone of the Military calendar would be marked with celebrations across the country, the Coronavirus situation has sadly rendered this impossible.
Nonetheless, in order to mark this special occasion and bring our Association together, Blesma is looking to create a commemorative video. The Daily Mail have launched a campaign for the entire country to sing Vera Lynn’s ‘We Will Meet Again’ from their windows at 9pm on the 8th of May so we are looking to get as many Members of our community as possible to record themselves at home singing the famous song; in order to show solidarity with this event.
Once you submit your videos to us, they will be edited together, creating a 'Virtual Choir', such as this one.
No need to be an excellent singer! 'Belting it out' is the order of the day here, and the more the Merrier!
If you have any questions or would like to know more about the project, please get in touch with the Comms team by replying to this email, and we will provide you with a guide to recording and submitting.
Have you been taking part in Blesma's Virtual Quiz? Every Saturday at 8pm the Blesma quiz will be bringing people together from their living rooms, helping to raise vital funds. As many key fundraising events have been forced to cancel or postpone, this quiz will help to combat Blesma's loss of income.
If just 1 person people plays, it will pay for a phone call to an isolated veteran.
If nine people play they'll raise the £27 it costs to pay for a month-long course of adaptive weekly home workout classes for injured veterans, to keep mentally and physically well throughout the lockdown period. If we can achieve 65 people playing that will afford the £200 cost of a high-quality, lightweight wheelchair for a limb injured veteran.
There are cash prizes to be won for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
-Please share with your friends, family, and on your social media channels and join us for some fundraising fun -
Blesma Member and qualified physical training instructor Gregg Stevenson has devised a weekly home workout especially for his fellow Members, to help keep their minds and bodies healthy during lockdown.
Gregg works as a lead physical training instructor, and his ambition is to help people with disabilities challenge themselves physically.
These videos are for all Members looking to improve their fitness at any level.
You can watch Gregg’s first Weekly video here.
Despite social distancing measures it's clear that the spirit of 'Blesma Business as usual' has been maintained across the country. Our welfare team in the South West were rightly forced to cancel their Blesma Connects and Cream Tea session, which was aimed at connecting Members in the local area and helping them with their digital and online skills. Blesma Member Neil Owen had planned to attend, and when he saw the event noted on his calendar, he decided to host his own Cream Tea get together from the safety of his home and asked his Outreach Officer, Sarah Payne, to join him via Skype!
Owen said: “It was lovely to talk to a real face on my screen. You can speak on the phone and send text messages, but it’s not the same as chatting with somebody that you can see."
In these times of self-distancing and self-isolation, communicating with others becomes so important to our mental health and wellbeing. Blesma has teamed up with The Drive Project to provide an informal communication workshop to help connect Blesma Members, spouses and carers, to one another, and develop their communication skills for use on video calls. This also provides an important opportunity to check in with one another and form new friendships, despite their separation. Due to the huge success of last week’s ‘Making Connections’ communication workshop, we have now opened applications for a new round!
“It’s been really encouraging… I feel GOOD!” – Blesma Member who took part in last week’s ‘Making Connections’
To get more information on what Blesma does and who we support, please go to our website: www.blesma.org
