Author Archives: Peter

Peter

Trustee of The Christian Blandford Fund

Share the love, share the music

March 24, 2020 by Peter · 4 Comments

Christian was due to be playing a Rachmaninoff piano concerto this week. It was to be played in Rochester Cathedral and he was to be backed by a very talented orchestra. For obvious reasons, this has not happened. He has worked hard to learn the piece and we thought we would share the love and share the music by recording it for others to enjoy. It premiered on our FaceBook page on Sunday and is now also available to view here…

We hope that you are all getting through this tough period and are particularly consolatory to those parents and families who are looking after children in hospitals in this tough time. The Christian Blandford Fund have got in touch with St George’s and The Royal Marsden, where Christian was treated, to see if there is anything in particular they need during these trying times.

Posted in Uncategorized.

Santa 2019!

December 23, 2019 by Peter · Leave a comment

We had another wonderful day at St George’s handing out presents to some lovely children who are unlucky enough to be spending this time of year in hospital. It was particularly good to borrow the toy Tesla car for Jessica the elf to drive around the wards as we handed out presents. This is one of many cars donated by The Tesla Owners Group, in partnership with the Christian Blandford Fund to hospitals throughout the country. The staff at St George’s were all wonderful, a special thanks to Justine and her amazing team of play specialists who helped to organise the presents and accompanied us on the rounds, smiling and happy even when one of them had a toe run over by a Tesla driving elf (sorry Genevieve!).

You can see a small selection of the photos below but the rest you can see here

Click here for the full collection of photographs – free downloads for families and friends of patients

Thank you to the talented photographer, Samantha Connoly Boles, who gave up her time and abilities for free to take these photos. You can see more of her work here.

A special thank you to our trustees Darren Bowler and Amy Hancox who wrapped all the presents ready for Santa and to Susannah Boughtflower from Susannah’s People for the fabulous beard.

Posted in Blog, Christian's Story, Things We've Done. Tagged with , , .

An amazing 8 year old girl’s initiative to help the environment and raise money for the CBF

May 21, 2019 by Peter · Leave a comment

Emmy with the money she raised

Emmy Pop is at school with Jessica, Christian’s sister. She was concerned at the amount of old shoes going to land fill when children grew out of them, often when they were still in good condition, so Emmy had a great idea. Why not collect these shoes and sell them at the school fete? This way she could raise money and do her bit to reduce unnecessary waste. We are delighted to say that Emmy chose The Christian Blandford Fund as a recipient of her fund raising and are absolutely amazed at the initiative and determination that Emmy has shown. Not only did Emmy sell second hand shoes but she wrote to Russell and Bromley who kindly donated 10 pairs of new shoes for her to sell. So far she has raised over £300, thank you Emmy you are a star!

Posted in Fund Raising.

The guy who surprises everybody at that airport piano!

April 12, 2019 by Peter · Leave a comment

The Blandfords have just returned from holiday and were delighted to find two checks for the Christian Blandford Fund. One from St George’s Church in the Weald for £747 and another from LVS Ascot for £743. We would like to particularly thank Luisa Northing and her friends in Coburg House at LVS who took part in a giant cake sale, a ‘splat the teacher” event and a student leg wax!

Lu and Christian, many years ago

 

While waiting at Geneva Airport for departure, we spotted a piano…

 

Posted in Blog, Christian's Story, Fund Raising. Tagged with , , , .

Ella Gracie’s Garden Project

January 15, 2019 by Peter · Leave a comment

We were so pleased to be able to support The Royal Marsden by donating towards Ella Gracie’s Garden Project. This new garden for the children’s ward provides some much needed outside space for the kids and their families. The first picture shows the space as it was originally!

Posted in Blog, Things We've Done.

Father Christmas at St George’s Hospital (and Pembury Hospital) 2018

December 19, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

Yesterday we had another amazing day handing out presents at St George’s. Christian and Jessica were fantastic elves helping me as Santa. The CBF trustees, Darren and Amy did a great job of wrapping presents and Neil and the St George’s play specialists were a great help on the rounds. As usual it was a day filled with both laughter and tears. We are reminded how lucky we are that Christian has made such a great recovery and we are touched that he has become a beacon of hope for many families who are going through an incredibly difficult time.

Thank you to Matt Binnie who provided his photographic skills and equipment for free. You can see a selection above, the rest are here where friends and families of the patients can get downloads for free. Click on the cloud to download individual photos.

For the first time we also handed out presents in a different hospital, our local NHS hospital in Kent, Pembury. As my sledge is having an MOT we had to bring in some external Santa help! Here is a message from Claudia

“The Pembury Father Christmas  trip would not have been possible without the generosity of Granville School staff, parents and pupils who generously bought and wrapped all the gifts.  We would also like to thank Dionne Lessner who gave up her time to help Claudia on the day, Susannah Boughtflower (from Susannah’s People and The Kids Entertainers Network) who found us the most brilliant Father Christmas and who waived her fee & Damien Warren Smith who was a fantastic Father Christmas and who charmed not only the children but their parents and the Dr’s and nurses and play specialists.”

Posted in Blog, Things We've Done. Tagged with , , , , .

Organic pear juice to benefit The Christian Blandford Fund

November 4, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

Our good friends Robin and Bee have kindly donated their entire production of incredible organic pear juice to benefit The Christian Blandford Fund.

So we now have 550 bottles looking for a good home and we need your help to sell them!

a bargain at 

£10 for 3 bottles 

£18 for 6 bottles

the bottles are a full litre

The pear juice is 100% organic, no pesticides were used on the trees and they have no additives at all. The juice has been lightly pasteurised, which means it will last for 6 months if sealed but other than that, it is as fresh and natural as you can get. The pears were all grown  and cared for locally and harvested by Robin himself and we are very grateful that he and Bee decided to donate the result of all this hard work to The Christian Blandford Fund.

The juice tastes amazing...

  • on it's own or with ice
  • 50:50 with water as a sports drink
  • with gin or vodka as a cocktail!

We need your help, can you help us sell it?

The pear juice is £10 for 3 bottles or £18 for 6, with all the profit after bottling costs going to the Christian Blandford Fund.

Do you think you could sell some for us?

Could you send an email to your kids' class parents group for example?

Any other ideas for places to sell them?

We are planning a prize for the person that sells the most bottles, so please join in the fun and help us sell this incredible and heathy batch of organic pear juice.

Thank you!

Update

The wonderful Fidelity Weston at Romshed Farm will be selling the pear juice for us at their pop up shop on the 1st Dec. The Blandfords buy nearly all of their meat from there and highly recommend it , it is local, organic, ethical, delicious and surprisingly good value when bought in bulk.

If you wish to pick up some juice with your order please tell Fidelity before you pick up, some will be available on the 1st for those who forget!

Romshed farm

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising.

The Greatest Showman Sing Along in Sevenoaks!

October 8, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment
THE STAG THEATRE SUNDAY NOVEMBER 4TH 4 – 6.30PM £15 per person, includes: Popcorn and a choice of soft drink (bar open) In aid of the Christian Blandford Fund – raising money to refurbish the children’s ward at St George’s Hospital, Tooting For tickets please contact: Ruth Bussey or Kym Herregods Thank you so much Kym and Ruth for organising this event for the Christian Blandford Fund,  we can't wait to go along and enjoy what promises to be an amazing night!
Claudia, Kim, Leyla and Ruth returning from the CBF triathlon
Posted in Blog, Fund Raising.

One of the more unusual items we have purchased…

September 5, 2018 by Peter · 1 Comment
One of the benefits the Christian Blandford Fund has is that its small size makes it very efficient so we can approve purchases that meet our criteria very quickly. The wonderful play specialists at St George's had an interesting request, a mini MRI scanner. Children being treated often find MRI machines scary and, as they need to lie very still, their fear can not only be distressing for them but can lead to unusable images. This is how Justine, the play specialist put it... This piece of equipment would absolutely prove so invaluable in preparing children/young people for scans and it would also help to reduce the number of patients who go for the scan under a G.A through fear of the actual machine. Showing patients exactly what it looks like (rather than a photograph), how it works and the noise it makes can definitely help to reduce fears, anxieties and misconceptions which will enable fewer G.A’s, risks and waiting times for the patient/parent carer. This is such exciting news for us and we have waited so long for a revolutionary idea like this! I wondered if I could make a wish for the MAGNETOM from you, I completely appreciate that it is very expensive, but the value it would bring to Play In Hospital at St George’s would be second to none, state of the art and help to bring us up to modern day healthcare standards! Which I strive to achieve at all times. We were able to approve the cost of it quickly and I am happy to say that it is now being used on the ward at St Georges. This is from a recent e-mail from Justine.

Please see pictures below of our lovely Olivia with my Play Specialist Hayley, learning all about having an MRI scan using the Mini-Magnetom MRI scanner model, which the wonderful Christian Blandford Charity purchased for us to help to teach our patients about having a blood test. As you can see, Olivia really benefitted from the experience and had a wonderful time learning about having an MRI scan. Olivia is a patient on Pinckney ward and has recently had her head henna’d which she absolutely loves. 

Lovely Olivia with toy MRI machine Lovely Olivia with toy MRI machine We are delighted that the scanner is being used and is making a difference and we wish Olivia all our love and best wishes.
Posted in Blog, Things We've Done. Tagged with , , , .

Our collaboration with The Tesla Owners Group UK and Elon Musk!

August 14, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment
Tesla owners donate mini Tesla's to hospitals It started off with one or two Tesla owners donating mini Teslas that they received from a referral scheme. Mark Goodier, you may remember, donated his for us to auction and raise funds for our charity. Other owners approached children's hospitals to see if they would like them, yet more owners pledged money to buy more. Will Fealey, the president of the Tesla Owners UK group had the bright idea of asking Elon Musk for support and Elon agreed to help! There are more details in this news story. The Christian Blandford Fund have offered to help in collecting the money, claiming the gift aid, and assisting in the administration as much as we can. It fits perfectly in our mandate, to help improve the lives of children and their families, particularly those affected by cancer, during prolonged stays in NHS hospitals. We have bought a couple of little electric cars for St George's in the past and thoroughly agree that going to an op in an Electric mini Tesla is much more fun (and less scary) than going in a wheel chair. We are also delighted that Will Fealey has joined our charity as a trustee and we look forward to helping Will and the generous Tesla owners who have donated help as many children as they can. You can read Will's post on the Tesla Owners UK site if you would like to recommend a hospital or hospice who would benefit from a Radio Flyer mini Tesla you can do so here. Amazon Smile Don't forget that we have joined Amazon Smile. If you use this link before you shop at Amazon, they will make a donation of 1.5% of your expenditure for no extra cost to you! Please click on this link to set The Christian Blandford Fund as your charity of choice. Thank you again! Amazon Smile
Posted in Blog, Things We've Done. Tagged with , .
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