June 2010

Amy Hancox, a trustee with the Chritian Blandford Fund, persuaded the Head Master of Finton House School to nominate us as the beneficiary of their Summer fete. They raised a fantastic £2,600.

Peter Radford has entered the grueling Etape du Tour bike ride and will raise money for two charities, Chase Hospice Care and The Christian Blandford Fund.

Pete is trying to raise £8,604 which is somehow relevant to the event. If you sponsor him you can guess what the link is and win a mystery prize!

He writes, "It is 112 miles and 3 mountain climbs in the Pyrennes. Given that I weigh twice as much as a pro-rider and prefer a G&T to protein shakes, this is a major challenge for me. Last year over 20% of the riders taking part did not finish - this must not be confused with a bike ride you can just turn up and get through on the day. We will be riding for around 10 hours on the day in 30 degrees heat. I am doing this ride with my mate Rob Lucas and we have been training since January, lost some weight and put a lot of miles on the bike. We are funding the ride ourselves with all the money from this site going straight to two charities."

Peter's sponsorship page is here

The New Beacon School raised £437.61 by nominating the Christian Blandford Site as a recipient of the collection at the recent chapel service.

February 2010

The Christian Blandford Fund has been given approved charitable status by the Inland Revenue. This will allow us to open our own bank account which will be done very shortly. The main beneficiary will ultimately remain as St George's in Tooting but this will allow us to have even more control of how and when money is spent. For now the donate link is still crediting St George's Charitable Foundation (the Christian Blandford fund) but soon the money will go straight to a separate charity account. The trustees of the charity are Peter Blandford, Claudia Blandford, Darren Bowler and Amy Hancox.

Darren and Amy have also been busy helping spend some of the money that has been raised so far. Here is how St George's put it...

Many of you may know Darren Bowler as a great friend of the Blandfords. He has now generously offered his time to help project manage and speed up the spending of the monies from the Christian Blandford Fund. Helping Darren in many different ways is Amy Hancox, whose daughter Anna is a former Pinkney patient, and who, along with her husband Matt, ran the London Marathon in April 2009 to raise funds. St George’s Hospital Charity is delighted to announce that both Darren and Amy have become official St George’s Hospital Volunteers and we are thrilled to have their dedicated input and enthusiasm.

November 09 - Peter's step father sadly passed away in November. One of the charities supported by friends and family in lieu of flowers at the funeral was the Christian Blandford Fund. Several hundred pounds were donated.

September 09 - For Claudia and Peters 10th Wedding anniversary party guests were encouraged to donate to the Christian Blandford fund in lieu of presents. Several hundred pounds were donated.

Summer 09 - The New Beacon Sponsored Swim and Run - all the kids at Henry and Christian's school got involved and raised an amazing £7,900

March 09 - Graham Ford - Christian's God dad is running the London Marathon for the Christian Blandford fund for the second year running. His just giving site is now up and running...

March 09 - Ami Hancox's jutgiving site is up and running...

February 08 - Matthew Hancox's daughter, Anna has also been treated for a kidney tumur and has spent plenty of time at St George's. Matthew and a team of 20 runners from ING are running the London Marathon this year. They are pooling all the money raised and ING are matching all donations. The money will be split between four charities, one of which is The Christian Blandford Fund. Matthew's wife Amy is also running the London Marathon and raising money for the Christian Blandford Fund, her justgiving page is here.

May 08 - Kathy Winser is doing a couple of events this year. Firstly she is doing a Triathlon on Monday the 5th May for The Christian Blandford Fund, and then in June she will be doing the 52 mile bike ride from London to Brighton to raise money for “The British Heart Foundation”. Nice on Kath! More details here

April 08 - Rob Hall is planning to come first in this year's London Marathon. Yes, you heard me right, he has an elite runner's place and his aim is to lead the pack for as long as he possibly can! Rob thinks he will be able to lead for 5 or 6 minutes until he collapses in a heap, berated by the commentators. More Details here.

5th October 08 - Chris Elsmore running the London Half Marathon

April 08 - London Marathon - Robert Ford, Graham Ford and Simon Desborough are all running the London marathon, their page is here.

March 08 - Chris Elsmore and his lovely girlfriend, Simone are having their 40th birthday's this year and have very kindly suggested that friends donate to the Christian Blandford fund in lieu of giving presents.

March 08 - Clapham Common 10km - Dee Gibson and Emma Darling running and raising sponsorship for the Christian Blandford Fund. Click here for more details.

February 08 - George Kirkwood chose the Christian Blandford Fund as the recipient of a generous donation from the Kirwood family trust, for the second time.

July 07 - Fi Lovett owner of Fifi Wilson on Abbeville Road – Fi held two clothing sales with proceeds going towards Christians fund and she raised an incredible £1000. We are very grateful to all the hard work both she, and her manager Dawn, put in to the event. We know how busy they both are running two successful shops and am truly flattered that they wanted to help with Christian’s fund.

July 07 - Monika Kurec who did some mad long (incredibly long!) bike ride in Cape Town South Africa and raising money for Christian’s fund. Here is a photo of her during the race and an extract from the email that she sent upon completing it.

March 07 - 10km run Battersea Park - over a hundred runners helped to raise a staggering £150,000 - details here.

December 2006 - Juliette and Chris Norris asked their guest at their wedding to donate to the Christian Blandford fund instead of giving presents, thank you very much Juliette and Chris.

July 05 - The London 10km run - The first fund raising event which raise over £40,000 - details here.