Month: February 2014

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National Thrombosis Week 2014

Lifeblood will be holding the first ever UK Thrombosis Patient Day on Tuesday 6th May at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. They have some fantastic speakers and will be featuring lectures and patient stories in the morning and workshops in the afternoon, covering a wide variety of subjects from PTS through to managing anticoagulation therapy.

There will be two poster campaigns this year. The first featuring hospital acquired clots (our on-going awareness theme) and the second featuring post thrombotic syndrome (PTS). Volunteers have kindly agreed to have their legs photographed for the posters and we also have the free services of a photographer and graphic designer volunteer. Thank you so much to all involved.

There is a minimal registration fee of £5 for the day to cover tea/coffee and a buffet lunch. Concessions will be available for those on benefits to help make this day accessible to all. For further information or to register for the event contact Anita onanita@lifeblood-charity.com. A promotional poster will shortly be available, and we would ask our supporters to share this as far afield as possible so that those who would benefit from the event are aware it is happening.

Please visit the charities site at http://www.thrombosis-charity.org.uk/national-thrombosis-week-2014.php

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The geek in me…

Many thanks for following the blog for @charityoars and for your comments. One feature that I find very interesting is the Stats and where in the world visitors to the blog come from.

The UK, USA, Canada, Russia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, UAE, Ireland to name a few. It is amazing how far we reach now. 

Thanks for your continuing support and best wishes for the fundraising campaign.

PJW

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#charityoars meet @Tanni_GT

As we strolled through the streets of SW1P, nodding in appreciation as tourists stopped and smiled at a 6 foot chap with an 8 foot oar, (somewhere right now there will be a couple of Japanese tourists telling the story of how they were photographed with an oar and a chap who looks like George Clooney…! well the oar bit was true..!) we were about to meet the second sporting legend who had kindly offered to sign the #charityoars .

As we turned the corner onto George Street, it’s fair to say I might have made a few nervous comments to the lovely Ellisa (aka Mrs Westers), we were just about to meet 11 time Para Olympic Gold Medallist, 2 World Championships, MBE, DBE wonder woman that is Tanni Grey-Thompon.

So what do you say to such a sporting icon when you first meet them? Well I went with “Hello Tanni….!” It seemed to work, I wasn’t hauled off to the tower and so far there’s been no knocks at the front door from chaps in long trench coats..!

It was an absolute pleasure to meet Tanni, we had a very informal and relaxed chat, her passion for her work in the House of Lords and the reforms she is championing is inspiring. We were able to discuss why #charityoars and more importantly why we’re supporting Lifeblood the Thrombosis Charity. It is amazing just how many loved ones, friends, sportsmen and women have either been directly affected by DVT’s or Pulmonary Embolism’s or know someone who has been. It is also scary just how little awareness there still is on the life threatening conditions.

It was a delight to meet Tanni and to have the opportunity to discuss the reasons behind the whole fundraising campaign, we were left chuckling when Tanni said “I’ve been asked to sign a lot of things, but never an oar…!” So with a fond farewell we said our goodbyes and headed back into Westminster with a #charityoars signed by a bloomin lovely person, we just had to get it to Boris now ……

 

 

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#charityoars day out in London

So exactly what does a @charityoars get up to on a day out in the Capital? Let’s see now …..

Train journey from Huntingdon (home County town of the Ashes winning Captain Charlotte Edwards @Lottie2323 )Then onto the wonderful London Underground (a few “interesting” looks from fellow travellers), then to Westminster, met a nice policeman, sight seeing at Big Ben, a photo by the London Olympics Gold post Box (even more “quizzical” looks and smiles) Then we met the very lovely Tanni Grey-Thompson (more of this meeting later). Then off to a rendezvous with the enigmatic and cheeky @MayorofLondon , met the lovely lady at reception who loved the #charityoars and then a photo shoot with Wenlock the London Olympic mascot.

What a great day out ……..!!Image

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@deanheadley585 (all round decent chap)

Well we’re off and running / rowing / batting (and no doubt many more ideas to follow) I had the pleasure of meeting England and Kent bowler (sadly now retired) Dean Headley last week. A true gentleman and sporting ambassador. We chatted about our cricketing careers, his took a lot longer than mine and involved players whose names we have all heard of, my stories involved people with names like “Smithy”, “Podge” and “Dixie”…! Any ho …..

Dean has very kindly started off the #charityoars campaign and I am extremely grateful for his time and generosity. It meant a great deal to me to meet one of the games ambassadors, I even got some free coaching, all too late for yours truly but it did help explain why I kept missing the ball..!

Dean Headley: 60 Test wickets, 11 ODI wickets, 466 FC wickets, Man of the Match in the 4th Ashes game in Melbourne (1998) with a Test winning 6 for 60, and now, the first sporting hero to sign the #charityoars.Image

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Lets save some lives shall we …!

Well today I had the pleasure of spending some time at Hunts County Bats, the team there were amazing. They have very kindly donated 2 “Clipper” bats to help the fundraising campaign, now despite what some of you may think, I do know what a bat is supposed to do, I just wasn’t that good at putting theory into practice. That said Podge at Wilden CC still moans about the six I hit that smashed the pavilion windows…! I was also given some rather exciting news (that sadly I am unable to divulge just yet), lets just say if you’d like to be in with a chance of owning a bat signed by the Ashes winning (see the word “winning” there) team then I might just be able to help you there.

We’re 2 weeks into the campaign and I am truly amazed and very flattered by the response so far, only another 423 days to go ….!!!!!

Please tell as many people as you can about our campaign, it’s for a very worthwhile cause, and again I can’t stress enough, every penny raised will be going directly to Lifeblood.

PJW

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Hunts County Bats

My old bat makers have made contact today and offered us 2 cricket bats that we can also get signed,  So not only will I be chatting politely to all my sporting chums about the oars, but I might get a sneaky signature on some bats as well. The more the merrier.

Please don’t forget the reason for this fundraising campaign, Everything is in aid of Lifeblood, a great charity supporting those who have suffered DVT’s and Pulmonary Embolisms. They do some great work and need your support. Lifeblood