The week’s aims are simple: to give Members the chance
to try new activities and learn new skills while building on
the social aspect of shared experiences
Nigel Smith scales
a rock face
S
uspended from a rope
above a quarry in Kendal,
having expertly ascended
a tricky rock face, Allan
Long can’t help but laugh.
“I used to be a real couch
potato,” he says. “It took
me a while to realise life
doesn’t end because you’ve lost a limb. To
be spending an entire week rock climbing,
abseiling and gliding… it’s unbelievable.
This experience is fantastic, and you can
see it transforming people’s lives.”
Allan is taking part in Activities Week,
which runs once a year out of BLESMA
Blackpool. The event has become a core
part of the charity’s programme since
evolving from a successful outdoors trial
weekend in 2007. Allan, who’s 61, served in
the Royal Navy for 24 years. His is a typical
example of the can-do attitude that the
week inspires. Having lost a hand and
a leg in separate accidents since leaving
the Navy, and overcoming cancer to boot,
Allan’s enthusiasm is such that the other
participants on Activities Week have
already nicknamed him Duracell.
“When some of the younger members
see an old fossil like me really going for it,
they think ‘Hang on… if he can do it, then
so can I’,” he says. “You find out you can do
much more than you previously thought.”
An action-packed line-up
Up to 20 participants attend Activities
Week, with accommodation and all meals
provided at BLESMA Blackpool. In
previous years, activities have included
climbing, abseiling, indoor skydiving,
sailing, quad-biking, tank driving, archery,
gliding, go-karting and fishing. BLESMA
staff put on the activities with the help of
expert outside instructors to make sure
the tuition and coaching is top-notch.
“We have a number of core activities that
take place every year, but we make sure we
mix it up so that it’s different for people
who have been before,” says Dave Coulton,
BLESMA’s Activities Manager and the man
26 www.blesma.org
responsible for organising the event.
The week’s aims are simple: to give
Members the chance to try new activities
and learn new skills while building on
the social aspect of shared experiences
that is key to everything BLESMA does.
“The week gets Members feeling like
they are part of something bigger than
themselves,” says Dave. “We want to show
what’s available and what you can get
involved in just by using a bit of creative
thinking and adaptability. We want
Members to leave with new ideas for a
hobby they can pursue in their own time.
“The week brings together everything
BLESMA aims to achieve – taking part in
different activities and getting Members to
come together and interact with each other
so they don’t feel as though they are alone
with their amputation. Showing people
what they are capable of and highlighting
all the different activities that are out there
is also central to BLESMA’s thinking. I’m
not talking about mastering adventure
sports or highly technical skills – more like
experiencing fun activities people might
not think they are still capable of doing.”
The week is perhaps especially important
for recent amputees, as it allows them to
meet people in the same situation, says
Dave. “You can visit occupational therapists
and doctors who’ll talk about all the
adaptations you’re going to have to make,
but it’s often much more useful to speak
to someone who has been living with the
same injury for years.”
Allan discovered that the education
process works both ways, too, with older
amputees discovering new tricks from the
younger Members. “I learned so much from
just sitting around having a cup of tea with
the others,” he says. “The younger lot told
me that my leg was very old-fashioned! It’s
a low activity limb – which is what you’d
expect to give somebody my age, but I want
to get involved in more things, so I’m going
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