Accessiblues go from strength to strength.

Accessiblues have announced their nomination for Charity of the year at the MBCC ( Britain’s Multicultural Business & Community Champion) awards. We have reviewed the past 12 months work by Accessiblues and they have been busy.

Accessiblues Living with COVID

Living with a worldwide pandemic has been hard for everyone, the mental health of the nation has really been tested. At Accessiblues one of our main purposes is stop social isolation whilst building good relations with the community. During the pandemic we have continued to hold coffee mornings to help reduce loneliness. The team also contacted members via telephone and completed socially distanced doorstep visits during the full lockdown. Throughout we have been very cautious, adhering to social distancing guidelines with all sessions held outside. Indoor socialising is on our agenda but only when it is 100% safe to do so.

Our fundraising activities across 2020

We have kept ourselves busy by fundraising for others. Accessiblues started in March 2020 with Linda having her head shaved. This was completed live on Tilton Talk Show raising over £600 for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Linda was not the only one as Jack joined her on air having his shaved also.

The pub/club trade have suffered with loss of income throughout lockdown. During this period, Bordesley Labour were broken into and damage was caused. A fundraiser was set up for this and we were able to raise £290 to help them with repairs.

Face coverings were required due to COVID and had so Accessiblues had face-coverings made showing Accessiblues detail/logo. 20% of profit went towards Dean Prentice (Deano) Bowel Cancer Awareness. Sadly Deano passed away but was part of the Blues family and we wanted to show our support. All monies raised were passed to Deans mother and added to her overall fundraising for Bowel Cancer UK.

Brenda and Jeremy became victims of a confidence trickster. Accessiblues stepped in to help and they had so much help from the community via fundraising and donation of peoples time. Even Baz Patterson jumped on board to provide labour. Through the hard work of the group Brenda and Jeremy were able to finish their back garden.

After listening to former player Jerry Gill talk about his managerial role at Bath City on Tilton Talk, Accessiblues decided to sponsor a player. The sponsorship money went on to help Bath City to continue during the pandemic.

Accessiblues and all our Blues’s Family were saddened to hear about the passing of young Tommy Plant. Once again after setting up fundraisers, the community rallied around and donated towards Tommy’s final journey to Blue Heaven.  

Another young life taken too soon was Jake Foster. Jake passed away just before the pandemic however his mom Debbie posted on how much guilt she had at not being able to afford a headstone. Accessiblues started a fundraiser to help towards the cost. Not only did the group support with fundraising but they were also able to arrange for a garden stone. His family have maintained the stone in their garden.

Accessiblues have held two fundraisers to help BCFC Community Trust Pan Disability team. The first one helped to purchase a kit for the team and Accessiblues were recognised for this by having their details as shirt sponsors. The second fundraiser is still currently running.

Finally, the group held a “Design a Flag” Competition. The winner received an 8ft x 4ft and two runners up received smaller ones. The final flag is shown below.

Accessiblues have been overwhelmed by the support and generous donations across the last 12 months. The group agree that its not the actions of one person or group that enable these things to happen. Infact, we all play a part in our community and come together as one #BluesFamily. Thank you to all our friends at Tilton Talk for your support and generously providing beverages for our coffee mornings for the forthcoming season. 

Our final words

Kindness doesn’t cost anything, we all have something to offer. We have seen this again with the happiness on the face of one of our hearing impaired supporters. He was supported purchasing his Season Ticket this year and when finalised his face was an image we will never forget and what did it cost? Just a little bit of time and that does not cost anything.

Keep Right On.