The Waves by Christian Blandford

May 28, 2024 by Peter · Leave a comment

We are very proud to annouce that Christian has released a beautiful album of piano music all written and performed by him.

The Waves by Christian Blandford is available on all major streaming services and can be bought on i-tunes.

Please take a listen!

 

The Waves

Posted in Blog, Christian's Story.

Mini Teslas for Hospitals in the UK

March 5, 2024 by Peter · Leave a comment

Back in 2019, some Tesla owners in the UK received Mini Teslas as part of a referral program from Tesla. Some owners generously decided to donate those cars to local hospitals. The community of Tesla owners, led by Tesla Owners UK, got together to raise money for more cars. Even Elon Musk got involved with a donation from the Elon foundation and Radio Flyer who produce the cars gave a generous dicount. As the money from the group came in, the Christian Blandford Fund offered to help in order to collect and the manage the funds and claim gift aid on the donations. Will Fealey, the president of Tesla owners UK, joined the CBF as a trustee.

Since then every single children’s hospital in the UK has been offered one  and most have accepted. They are now being used all around the country. ITV ran a story about it this week about one of the many hospitals who are using them…

 

Deryn Harvey from Tesla owners UK has managed the program with impressive efficiency, not only providing the cars but looking after them as they need work over the years.

To quote Deryn – “TOUK have our own repair/refurb facility. Some of the originals are developing faults and Pete Smoothy and Nick Goldring take them into our very own “repair workshop.” Where a hospital has one which is very well used we use the parts and supply a brand new one to the hospital. Here are some ready to go out again.”


The Christian Blandford Fund are delighted to have been able to help and play a small part in this incredible project. We’d like to thank Tesla Owners UK, particularly Will, Deryn, Pete and Nick for not only making this happen but for maintaining the project during the many inevitable ups and downs.

We’d also like to thank all those who donated over the years and RadioFlyer, Elon Musk, and all the incredible NHS staff who helped get the cars onto the wards so they could help make a difference.

Posted in Fund Raising, Things We've Done. Tagged with , , .

Father Christmas at St George’s 2023

December 22, 2023 by Peter · Leave a comment

We had an amazing day at St George’s Hospital handing out presents to the children who are unlucky enough to be in hospital this time of year.

You can see all the photos here  and patients and familes can download hi res versions for printing and sharing.

Thank you so much to Tracey and her team of play specialists who helped us prepare and to Janine and Hayley who came around the wards with us. As usual our wonderful trustees Darren and Amy chose and wrapped the presents and this year Darren stepped in as the photographer and as you can see did a fabulous job.

As usual I was blown away by the energy, dilligence and love from all of the staff at St George’s. Thank you for all the effort you put in, often under difficult circumstances.

Merry Christmas from all of us at The Christian Blandford Fund.

Posted in Blog, Things We've Done.

Father Christmas at St George’s 2022

December 23, 2022 by Peter · Leave a comment

It was wonderful being back at St George’s for a father Christmas visit after 2 years away!

Father Christmas at St George's

www.christianblandford.com

 

We have put the photos up for friends and families of the patients to download here

Thank you to our trusty trustees Darren and Amy  and their families for wrapping all the presents. Thank you to lovely Annie Stevens for stepping in as the photographer at the last minute, you did a great job! Thank you to the play specialists at St George’s for making it happen, particularly Hazel who was incredible all day.

Finally and mostly, thank you to all the staff at St George’s for the work you do and the energy you put into your day. I am always amazed, touched and humbled by the passion I see from every member of staff. You are all overworked, you are all under appreciated and you are all incredible. The love and compassion you have for your patients is a pleasure to witness.

Merry Christmas and lots of love from everybody at The Christian Blandford Fund.

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

Goodbye Brenda

September 6, 2022 by Peter · 2 Comments

Brenda Trenowden

 
 
Brenda Trenowden and her wonderful husband Mark (Trend) have been one of Peter and Claudia's closest friends since we were all young and fun as new parents in Clapham. They were very loving and supportive all those years ago when Christian was ill, frequently visiting us at The Royal Marsden and St George's, often bringing some delicious soup, and always a bottle of wine. We all remained great friends and they moved to Sevenoaks not long after us, following that well trodden path from Nappy Valley to Kent life.
 
 
While Trend looked after the home and their wonderful kids, Teddy and India, Brenda's career flourished. Brenda believed in her work and her passion led her not only to personal success, but to have genuine influence in the lives of many others. Trend's importance in this success can not be underemphasised, there is a great interview on the BBC i-player where Brenda called Trend, "The chief household officer", and I know how much Brenda depended on Trend's perpetual support.
 
 
 
Brenda has been one of the UK's most prominent diversity champions having been chair of the 30% club from 2015 to 2018. During her tenure, Brenda set the deadline for the campaign's initial aim of women making up 30% of FTSE 100 boards. In 2018 she was awarded a CBE for services to the financial sector and gender equality.
 
Brenda went on to be a partner at PWC, a trustee of The Royal Marsden and the senior independent Director on the England and Wales Cricket Board, I love how this position demonstrates how Brenda could walk the walk and well as talking it!
 
The extraordinary thing is that much of what Brenda achieved, she achieved while coping with a horrible and rare form of cancer which was diagnosed in 2016. While many of us would have folded and reverted into a spiral of self pity, Brenda didn't. She worked, she raised her family, she supported others, she partied and she lived her life. Brenda and Trend chronicled her journey in her blog Brenda won't back down, it remains as a fitting testament to a truly wonderful person.
 
Brenda's influence reached far and wide, but also close to home. Her passion, work ethic and ambition fed through to Teddy and India who, as well as being lovely human beings, are both smart, driven and have achieved excellent academic results.
 
Very few people leave this world inspiring and improving the lives of as many people as Brenda has. We are touched, honoured and humbled that Trend has decided that all donations in lieu of flowers should be given to The Christian Blandford Fund.
 
Thank you Trend, Teddy and India, and thank you Brenda, for fitting so much into an unjustly short number of years.
 
 

Registered Charity number - 1139614

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising. Tagged with .

Incredible gift for James Bond Fans! Only 1000 ever made.

December 15, 2021 by Peter · Leave a comment
We are very lucky to have been gifted an amazing item by Bob Ford and Greg Williams photography. This is usually a money can't buy item so we have decided to list it on e-bay with 100% of the proceeds going to The Christian Blandford Fund. If you know anybody who would be interested please share it with them. We would also really appreciate it if you could share this on social media as we have 5 days to generate as much interest (and as many bids) as possible. Daniel Craig’s Bond by Greg Williams is a limited edition, money-can’t-buy celebration of Daniel’s incredible 15 year tenure in the role of James Bond, with exclusive photographs (mostly never seen before), spanning from Daniel Craig’s original screen test through to his final poster shoot on No Time To Die. The book represents a comprehensive review of the hundreds of days Greg spent on the James Bond sets and the result is a highly personal and candid insight into Daniel Craig’s portrayal of 007. Limited to 1,000 hand numbered copies and made possible with the support of Omega.   EBAY LINK HERE     
Posted in Fund Raising. Tagged with , , , .

Claudia’s Christmas Fair

November 26, 2021 by Peter · Leave a comment
Claudia hosted a fantastic Christmas fair yesterday which everybody enjoyed and appears to have been even more successful in fund raising than previous years.
The raffle prizes were bigger and better than ever so we have decided to sell the last few remaining tickets online to allow people who did not attend a chance to win. All the prizes were donated by wonderful supporters which means 100% of the money given will go to the charity.

Donate £20 here to get 5 chances to win one of these amazing prizes - you can donate more for more chances!

  • A luxury beauty hamper From Kat Farmer from Does My Bum Look 40? - worth £1500
  • An incredible unique hand blown glass artwork from the very  talented  Anthony Scala from his impressive Turbulence Collection. Similar pieces fetch £1250 at the Vessel Gallery in Notting Hill.
  • For James Bond fans! - A stunning studio stamped limited  edition Bond print (chosen by the winner from here). This will be signed by the famous photographer Greg Williams who has been the official Bond photographer for all of Daniel Craig’s 15 year tenure. Valued at £550 without the signature. Thank you Bob Ford and Greg Williams for your generosity.
  • A beautiful ladies watch from Swiss brand Frederique Constant worth £750, thank you Mark Robinson and Frederique Constant UK
  • A stunning hand knitted scarf by Chloe Gustard
  • Candle from Space NK
  • Candle from Mint Velvet
  • Champagne from Waitrose
  • Voucher from Sweaty Betty Sevenoaks, thank you to the manager Hazel brown
  • Framed Sevenoaks print by the artist Susie West
  • £50 voucher from The Bull Inn Limpsfield thanks to the manager Danny Parish
  • Voucher from Cryojuvinate, thank you to the managing director Ruth Hyde
  • Archers Express cleaning voucher
  • Cook Sevenoaks voucher
  • SPN fitness Gift Card for 10 free studio classes, thank you to Jaime Cooke
  • Generous gifts from the stall holders on the day including Coco Cuscino La Península use VIP access code - ISKEOM The Square Salon in Riverhead Rock & Lily Moho Jewellery Passionate about Pashminas Nourish by Naomi www.diylampshadekits.co.uk Bella De Luca's fabulous lamp shade kits soon to be available online
Thank you to the wonderful stall holders who came and maintained energy and enthusiasm all day, despite spending all of it on their feet! If you haven't bought raffle tickets yet, please do, we are hoping this will be our most successful raffle ever! You can download hi-res versions of these photos without watermarks here Due to COVID our regular stall holder CrashBangKids was unable to attend the fair.  Lulu has very kindly set up a code CHRISTIANB on her website.  This allows you free postage and gives The CB Fund 10%.
Posted in Blog, Fund Raising. Tagged with , .

Some exciting news from The Christian Blandford Fund

October 7, 2021 by Peter · Leave a comment
It’s been a busy few months at The CBF. We have been finalising a very exciting project that we have been working on for the last 2 years.
The fabulous news is that we effectuated a new Clinical Psychologist for the teenagers and young adults at The Royal Marsden Hospital .
The psychology team at the hospital provide support for the TYA’s and have seen a huge increase in referrals in the last year, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.  They were seriously overstretched and did not have the capacity to offer the psychological support that the unfortunate teenagers seriously needed during cancer treatment.
The new member of staff will be part of the outreach program so will help teenagers and young adults at other hospitals in the South East including St George's.
This is not something that The CBF would normally support as we try to avoid financing projects which we feel should be paid for by the NHS. We tend to focus on the extras that are not covered by central government funds. Claudia was the main driver for this project and persuaded the rest of the trustees that, although it is expensive, it very much fits our mandate to improve lives of children and their families during prolonged stays in hospital.
We are delighted that this new resource is now in place and would not have happened without our financial help.
Our contribution of £45,752 will pay for the psychologist for a year. After this time we hope and expect their value to have been demonstrated and the psychologist to be retained through hospital funds.
We have also started to prepare for Claudia's terrific biennial Christmas Fair!
Today we received our first donation for the raffle – a stunning print of The Stag Theatre in Sevenoaks by the artist Susie West.
Susie is an artist who is painting her way around Britain’s cities, towns and villages.  Please do have a look at her website https://www.artistsusiewest.com/ or follow her on Instagram “artistsusiewest”
If you have a local shop and would like to be involved please contact Claudia for further details. Here are a few pictures from the last event.
Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Things We've Done.

Merry Christmas from the Christian Blandford Fund

December 28, 2020 by Peter · 1 Comment

This year's Father Christmas visit had to be virtual, with some somewhat unexpected results! We hope you enjoy this short video

It was all worth it when we received this lovely message the following day 

I'm just writing to say a heartfelt thank you.  My son has been in and out of St George's since the end of November and I've just picked him up for home leave for Christmas.  He was genuinely so thrilled to get his present from you this morning, and I was so touched as his Mum too.
 
Thank you so much and wishing you the merriest of Christmases.
 
 
We are very happy that this December we have been able to help out Poole Hospital who, as well as standard requests such as new beds for visiting parents, had an unusual request...
 
 
We would love ceramic mugs with lids for parents to use for hot drinks.   We struggle to buy them as they are not seen as essential but help greatly in reducing spill risks and the possibility  of scalds. These needs  100 plus mugs,  This would be top of our list. I am currently trying to source theses for a cost but am struggling to find anything. I have been able to find bamboo mugs but these can transfer heat easily and not all are dishwasher safe.
 
 
Fortunately we found just the thing...


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

Share the love, share the music

March 24, 2020 by Peter · 5 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.
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