Avon and Somerset Police Officer George Pettingell has set his sights on running the London Marathon and raising £1000 to support injured emergency services personnel.

George said: “I am running the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon.  In order to raise funds for The Blue Lamp Foundation.  I will be advertising my task around colleagues within the police, through Facebook and via friends and family.

I will also be entering a number of training events where I will be running on behalf of Blue Lamp.

”As a serving police officer I see the charity as a vital support network for other serving emergency service personnel.  The events which came to form this charity sit strongly in my mind and I remember at the time have a personal investment in the ongoing incident.

“Since that time I have been strong supporter of the charity and proudly use my mug at work to help advertise the great work it undertakes.”

Good luck with your training George!

To help George reach his target, you can sponsor him via his JustGiving page.

 

A national bereavement support service has been launched to help children and families whose parents or close relatives have been killed while on duty with one of the emergency services.

The specialist service is being funded out of a £1 million endowment granted to the Joint Emergency Services Bereavement Fund from the Libor fines funding. The bereavement fund is managed by TASC, The Ambulance Staff Charity on behalf of all of the participating emergency services charities in England.

The bereavement support scheme offered by the Joint Emergency Services Charities provides ongoing help to children and young people under the age of 25 and their families through a programme of comprehensive support, including face-to-face sessions with specialist practitioners if needed. The cost of the first year of operation was met by a welcome £30k donation from the Blue Lamp Foundation.   Further set-up costs and the ongoing service is being funded out of the endowment.

The charities are working in partnership with childhood bereavement charity Winston’s Wish who have almost 25 years specialist experience of supporting families bereaved in traumatic circumstances.

Under the scheme, specialist bereavement support will be available to the surviving relatives of members of the English ambulance, fire, coastguard, search and rescue, air ambulance, and police services, as well as volunteers under their direct control, who are killed while on duty as a direct consequence of their work.

Bereavement support, which can also be via telephone or email as well as face to face, is available to children and young people who have been affected by a parent’s death, as well as other immediate family including parents, guardians and siblings. Support can be offered even if the death occurred some time ago. Group sessions may also be held involving other bereaved families.

To find out more about the support available, please visit the dedicated Winston’s Wish webpage www.winstonswish.org.uk/emergencyservices
Families or organisations working with bereaved children and young adults can also obtain guidance or bereavement support by calling the Winston’s Wish Freephone Helpline on 08088 020 021 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday. Calls are free and confidential.

A collaboration between two emergency services charities is putting the focus firmly on mental health and wellbeing for fire fighters across the UK.

The Fire Fighters Charity has secured funding from PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation to train and develop its in-house therapy team in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approaches.

The Fire Fighters Charity is the leading provider of rehabilitation and support services for the fire and rescue community, including serving and retired firefighters, fire service personnel and their dependents.  It already offered psychological support to those attending it three rehabilitation centres but this funding means it can develop its mental health programmes and provide tailored support to meet individual need.

Sharon Bailey, Director of Beneficiary Services at The Fire Fighters Charity, said: “It’s very important to us that we provide the right therapist and the right intervention and that we can integrate this support into a physical rehabilitation programme or offer stand-alone mental health programmes.

“The funding is already making a difference to our beneficiaries and has been fundamental to us in driving our psychological services forward.  We are very grateful to PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation for its ongoing support.”

PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation was set up to help injured emergency services personnel after PC David Rathband was himself injured whilst on duty.   The Foundation provided a grant of £60k to The Fire Fighters Charity in 2012 to develop a mental and emotional wellbeing pilot programme.  The further funding for staff training and development comes on the back of the success of that pilot.

Peter Sweeney, Chairman of PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation, said: “We understand first-hand how the job that our emergency services personnel do can cause not only physical injuries but also mental health issues too.  We started the journey with The Fire Fighters Charity to help put new programmes in place and we’re hopeful we can continue to support them as this journey continues.

“This collaboration is one of a number in which we are engaged, providing mental wellbeing support across the three 999 services to those in need.”

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For further information, contact:

Sharron Ashurst, PR Director, PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation

07775 801471 or email s.ashurst@bluelamp-foundation.org

PC Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation recently invested £75k to help The Police Treatment Centre (PTC) in Harrogate develop a  psychological wellbeing programme to compliment its physical rehabilitation programmes.

Read all about the programme here in the PTC’s newsletter Back on the Beat.

A poem by Sarah Eames

Believe or not that it might be true?
That being injured while on duty could happen to you!
You all serve without favour, malice or reward.
Chivalrous actions and while being noble in the cause.

Who cares when your world is coming crashing down on you?
The Blue Lamp that’s who!
Here to provide real support.
Set up by PC Rathband a real stalwart.
Who recognised that those who serve,
Need all the support they so richly deserve.

So whether you suffer from P.T.S.D
Or have been injured in the line of duty.
You don’t require being a member of the Foundation
You just have to have served your nation.
Fire, Police and Ambulance too!
United in service, bonded like glue!

You can choose to represent, fundraise or donate,
If you’re thinking of helping then, don’t hesitate.
It’s about being considerate of those in need and dire straits.

Personnel and relatives don’t struggle and go into melt
Because The Blue Lamp is here to help!

A children’s book author will be making her debut at this year’s Emergency Services Show in Birmingham and signing copies of the books which were inspired by her local village bobby.

Barbara Ann’s books are built on her experience of life on a farm, being part of a village and the stories shared by her local Policeman and family friend.

The series of 16 beautifully illustrated books include ‘Policeman Pete and Nicola to the Rescue’ which is dedicated to PC Nicola Hughes who was killed on duty along with her colleague Fiona Bone in September 2012.

Barbara Ann has been donating money from the sale of each book to PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation since the books were launched.    The Foundation was set up by PC Rathband to help injured emergency service personnel, after his own experience of being injured whilst on duty.

The Blue Lamp Foundation provides grants to help with out of pocket expenses, medical treatment and residential rehabilitation for anyone from the Police, Fire and Ambulance services who are injured in the line of duty.

Copies of the Policeman Pete books will be on sale at The Emergency Services Show and Barbara Ann will be on hand on Wednesday 21^st to personally sign copies.

Barbara Ann will be joining PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation on stand U42.

 

-ENDS-

 

For further information, contact:

Sharron Ashurst, PR Director, PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation on 07775 801471 or email: s.ashurst@bluelamp-foundation.org

We’re so very proud to announce that our Trustee and Ambulance Services Rep John Eames last night won a Community Champion Award from The Burton Mail for Achievement Against All the Odds. Congratulations John, a very well deserved award and everyone here is delighted for you.
Congratulations go to all of last night’s winners

Pupils from Ashfield School in Kirkby, Merseyside have shown they have a talent for fundraising after they’ve raised nearly £500 for The Blue Lamp Foundation.
Students on the Uniformed Services course collected old and unwanted clothes from their local community and turned them into cash for the charity.

Delighted to announce that we are now stocking the full range of Policeman Pete books from children’s author Barbara Ann. 20% of all book sales will come directly to PC David Rathband’s Blue Lamp Foundation and go towards helping injured emergency services personnel.

The series of 13 beautifully illustrated books include ‘Policeman Pete and Nicola to the Rescue’ which is dedicated to PC Nicola Hughes who was killed on duty along with her colleague Fiona Bone in September 2012.
Barbara Ann has been donating money from the sale of each book to The Blue Lamp Foundation since the books were launched.

Books are priced at £4.99 each or you can get a set of 4 for £16.99. To get the discount on 4 books, enter the promotional code ‘PETE’ when you go through checkout.

Back in November we told you the story about Stacey Mccrickard from Leamington Spa who found a lost £20 note in her local shop and donated it to charity when it wasn’t claimed.

Would you believe that lightening has struck twice and we’ve received a second donation through very similar circumstances from the very same town?

Anne Lewis from Warwick was in Leamington Spa before Christmas and found a £10 note lying by the kerb near a bus stop. Worried that someone might feel the pinch, especially just before Christmas Ann walked across town and handed her find in at the Police Station.

Happy that she’d done a good deed for the day, Ann was also delighted that her walk from one side of town to the other to reach the Police Station resulted in a nice little boost to her step count for the day!
When the money wasn’t claimed, the Police contacted Ann who asked for the money to be donated to The Blue Lamp Foundation.

For both Ann and Stacey, their first thoughts were of the person who’d lost the money and doing their best to get it back to them. When the money wasn’t returned to its rightful owner, the ladies showed they were not only honest but also very kind by donating their finds to our charity to help injured emergency services personnel.

Thank you both again for your kindness and Warwickshire certainly deserves its honesty and kindness accolade from us today!