Category Archives: Blog

We need a few more people to join us on the CBF Tri!

March 25, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

The sign ups for the CBF Triathlon are going really well and we are very excited that there will be nearly 50 of us taking part.  On the 18th May we are going up to the Lake District and having a fantastic weekend while hopefully raising £100,000 to completely refurbish the children’s ward at St George’s Hospital.

We would love it if another few people joined us. If you are partaking, can we please ask you to forward this to others who may be interested in going with you? It would be fantastic if we could get the number up to 60 participants.

If you need to pull the heartstrings, feel free to use this video!

If you want to appeal to the wallet strings point out that The Christian Blandford Fund does not pay any trustees or staff and 100% of the money raised will go to our aim of improving the lives of seriously ill children, particularly those affected by cancer.

Thank you,

Peter and Claudia Blandford

 

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Triathlon. Tagged with .

Christian amazes the crowds at Toulouse Airport

February 20, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

We hope you enjoy this video taken at Toulouse Airport last week

For those of you who are either participating or thinking of participating in our triathlon, please feel free to share this with people who have or are thinking about sponsoring you, you can use the share buttons at the bottom of this page. Also please take a look at our previous blog post with some useful info for triathlon participants…

Some great news and important info for triathlon participants

 

 

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

Some great news and important info for triathlon participants

February 8, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

We have been given the green light to go ahead with the refurbishment of the children’s wards at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. The work will start in March with Nicholls ward and The Pinckney Ward, where Christian spent a lot of time, will come next. We are very proud to say that the Christian Blandford Fund will be funding the majority of this work and have pledged £100,000 for the project.

We have spent over 10 years trying to push for these improvements so are delighted with the news. Thank you Darren Bowler, one of the CBF trustees for your perseverance in pushing this forward.

This brings us nicely to the next hurdle, the £100,000! If you can not join us for the triathlon but would like to help please consider sponsoring me and Claudia here.

The sign ups for the Christian Blandford Fund Triathlon are going really well, but we are still short of the target 70 people we would like to have partaking. Please forward this to somebody who may be interested in joining us for a great weekend while fund raising for this very important and targeted project. If you are thinking about signing up and haven’t done so yet, please do so now here.

Those of you who have decided to join us, thank you! This next bit is for you:

  1. If you have any friends or family who you think would like to join you please encourage them to join, we could do with just a few more signing up.
  2. We hope all participants will donate £99 each before the event to help cover event costs, the Blandfords have made a donation to cover the rest. If you have not done so please do so here
  3. Please makes sure you have registered with skyline
  4. Please set up a just giving fund raising page and share it with friends, family and co workers. Search for “CBF” in organised event and select no to “Have any of your selected charities contributed to the cost of your event?”
  5. If your company has some kind of a matching or charity donation scheme please look into it for us. Claudia or I are very happy to pitch to any companies if that is required.
  6. We are staying at the Lodore Falls Hotel and and Skyline have negotiated a preferential rate of £120 per person per night for dinner bed and breakfast. They have held a mixture of twins and doubles and should have contacted you about it. If you would like to stay somewhere else that is absolutely fine, you can search for hotels here
  7. Claudia and I are getting the 1430 train from London, Euston to Penrith (North Lakes) on the Friday 18th May.  Let us know if you book the train too so that we can organise for a mini bus or taxi to pick us all up.  We return on the 1207 train on the Sunday 20th May, arriving at Euston at 1518.
  8. Any more questions? look at the FAQ and feel free to contact us
  9. Finally and most importantly, thank you for being part of our team, we are delighted you are with us!

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Triathlon. Tagged with , , .

Time is running out to register!

January 19, 2018 by Peter · Leave a comment

Click here to apply for the CBF Triathlon

You are running out of time to register for the Christian Blandford Fund Triathlon!

Lots of people have now signed up but we also have lots of friends who said they are going to sign up who have not yet done so. You know who you are!

Please do so as soon as possible by clicking here and following the instructions. All participants are expected to make a donation of a minimum of £99 to cover their costs but if you would rather do this later just sign up with Skyline and let us know that the payment is coming later.

On a separate note we received a lovely thank you note from St George’s Hospital which we would like to share with you:

Thank you from St. George’s

 

 

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Triathlon. Tagged with , .

Santa at St George’s 2017

December 23, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment

I can’t believe that this is the eighth year in a row that we have gone to St George’s to hand out Christmas presents. As usual it was a fantastic day and I am always impressed with how high the spirits are amongst the parents and staff. Thank you very much to the wonderful play specialists for helping Santa with his bags and to Hugh Miller from Boy Meets Girl Photography for the fantastic photos. Amy and Darren did a great job of ordering and wrapping the presents and Henry and Christian were on hand to help Santa.

Parents can download print quality versions of the photos here

Merry Christmas!


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

Kids electric Tesla donated to the CBF

December 16, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment

Mark Goodier, the Radio 1 DJ, has very kindly donated a kids electric Tesla Model S to the Christian Blandford Fund which we are auctioning to raise funds for the upcoming refurbishment of the children’s wards at St George’s.

It is an incredible toy designed by Radio Flyer in collaboration with Tesla, the beautiful design features working headlights, turbine rims and an authentic Tesla paint finish (metallic red). It is powered by flight speed lithium-ion technology to provide more play time than any competitive product, charges in only 3 hours. It can be set to 3 or 6 mph perfect for children up to 7 years old.

This beautiful piece of machinery is second only to the real Model S and retails at £549. Because 100% of the proceeds of this auction are going to charity there are no fees to eBay and the amount paid will have gift aid applied, so the charity will receive 25% on top of the final price.


Please tag anybody who have kids the right age and may be interested. We are making it a short auction so we can get it to the new owners in time for Christmas!

We would prefer collection from Sevenoaks but would be willing to arrange delivery at cost if required.

The listing on E-bay is here.

 

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising. Tagged with , , , .

Artwork installed in York Hospital’s Children’s Ward

November 13, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment

Most of the work we do has been for St George’s Hospital in Tooting but we help in other places too. We just received this thank you from York Teaching Hospital…

 

Thanks to the Christian Blandford Fund the Arts Team at York Teaching Hospital has worked with staff on York Hospital’s Children’s ward to coordinate new art work for the bedrooms.  The Trust’s Estates Team freshened up the walls with a lick of paint and a bright new colour scheme, ready for the addition of child-friendly illustrations. We commissioned local illustrator Tanya McClelland to produce the artwork, working with patients, visitors and staff to choose the final designs.  We felt her playful illustrations were perfect for the project, with designs taking inspiration from parks and outdoor spaces across the city of York and the beaches of Yorkshires East Coast.

We would like to thank the Christian Blandford Fund for making this project a reality and helping to transform the ward.

Once again many thanks from all our staff this change to the ward environment will make a huge difference.

If you have not yet entered for the CBF Lake District Triathlon and plan to do so, please do so now as numbers are limited and places are filling up fast.

Click here to apply for the CBF Triathlon

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Things We've Done, Triathlon.

Thank you Wendy!

October 26, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment

Christian’s nana, Wendy Myers decided against entering the CBF Triathlon even though we are convinced she is more than capable. Wendy  decided instead to organise a bridge afternoon to raise money for The Christian Blandford Fund. There was a lot of work involved and, with Gift Aid,  Wendy raised and incredible £1500. Thank you so much Wendy!

If you have decided to join us for the Triathlon next May but have not got around to applying yet, please do so now, we need to start organising accommodation and the sooner we get a better idea of numbers the better.

APPLY HERE

 

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising.

The CBF 2018 Triathlon – update

October 18, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment
The CBF Triathlon

Click here for more details

 

We are very happy to say that the take up for the CBF triathlon in May next year has been fantastic but we still have a long way to go. In order to join us for what promises to be a fantastic event please follow the following steps

Step  1 – Please click here to donate to the Christian Blandford Fund

Step 2 – Click here to sign up with Skyline who are organising the event

Step 3 – click here to set up a Virgin Money Giving page to start your fund raising select organised event and search for “CBF”

Thank you to those who have donated more than the recommended £99 per person to join us. The extra amount you have given goes straight into the fund, and will help us meet our ambitious target of raising £100,000.

We welcome people signing up in teams and couples but  remind you that the recommended donation of £99 is per person taking part. The cost of entry for the charity is £320 per entry but the Blandford family are happy to be donating the majority of this fee and we ask everybody, in return, to make the minimum donation of £99 each.

Gift Aid – please tick the gift aid box if you are a UK tax payer. If you pay  more than 25% tax, we recommend you making a note of this donation for your own tax return.  If you are an additional tax rate payer, for example, you can claim back another 20% of your donation on your 2017/18 tax return. Many people forget to do this.

You can see the progress of the Campaign on the Virgin Money Giving page

If you use Facebook and Twitter please follow us and share our posts. Social media really helps!

The last  big event we organised was a 10km run in 2014. Life was tougher in those days but this was a certainly high point in a dark time…

Posted in Blog, Fund Raising, Triathlon.

The big announcement – please read and share

October 2, 2017 by Peter · Leave a comment

Ten year’s ago this month we wrote this on our blog…

Last week Christian had a bone scan and a CT scan and the results came back today, he is clear of cancer!

We’ve got a long way to go and he is still in danger from the treatment, his kidney function, for example, is still not what it should be, but we are obviously very relieved. There was a strange moment in the school car park when he started back at school. A whisper went around the crowds of parents and teachers when they saw Christian, and as he stood there looking confused, a round of applause went up from everybody around him.
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Claudia and I have decided that we should celebrate the fact that, not only did Christian survive against all odds, but he as matured into a wonderful and talented young man. We both feel the triathlon planned for 2018 will be a great event and opportunity to raise a significant amount of money for the much needed refurb of the children’s wards at St George’s. We have had some very positive feedback from people who want to be involved and the high cost did not seem to put too many people off. However, we were still unsure.
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We have decided that we’d mark this momentous year by sponsoring the event ourselves. The triathlon will cost the Christian Blandford Fund £330 per person and we initially wanted people to cover the majority of the entry fee themselves. Instead, we have decided that we will make a donation to cover the majority of the cost of entry for the first 70 people.
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All that we ask is that those who sign up make a small contribution (we suggest £99) themselves and make a big effort in their fund raising. 100% of money raised will go to the Christian Blandford Fund.
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We hope that by covering most of the costs of this event, our contribution will end up raising significantly more than simply donating the money to the Christian Blandford Fund. With your help we aim to raise over £100,000 which will make a massive difference to the refurbishment of this children’s wards at St George’s. .
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More details
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The triathlon will be in the Lake District  on the 18th-20th May 2018 and will entail a 2 mile open water canoe, an 8 mile bike ride, a 7 mile trek up Haystacks followed by another 13 mile bike ride cycling through some of the most beautiful parts of the Lake District.
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Anybody that attends would also have to make their own way to the Lake District and pay for their accommodation and meals while they are there. Skyline will be very happy to help you find rooms and we hope to be grouped in a one or two hotels with preferential rates. The plan is to travel up Friday night & have a chilled evening as it’s an early start on the Saturday. Saturday night, after the triathlon, we hope to arrange a celebratory dinner and a fun night with as many of the attendees as possible.
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It will be a lot of fun and we are very excited about it and really hope that by sponsoring the event we can raise a lot of money and have a lot of fun with many of our friends and family. People are very welcome to come up and support even if they are not partaking.
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Peter and Claudia Blandford
Posted in Blog, Christian's Story, Fund Raising.
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