Articles in Author: Ben Clark

Articles in Blog Posts

    Covid-19 Risk Assessment: Week Ending 30 September 2022

    Ben Clark

    The next wave of Covid-19 is mounting rapidly here in Bucks. As of last week, we estimate 1 in 28 people in the county were infected with Covid-19. That’s a huge increase over previous weeks, and proof that we are now in the FOURTH Covid wave this year.

    We have raised the Covid risk level in Bucks to EXTREMELY HIGH. In your average busy supermarket, there will now be eleven people breathing out Covid for you to catch.

    Our advice remains to wear a FFP2 or N95 filter mask in public places, breathe clean air, avoid crowds and busy places, work from home if you can, and protect your older and vulnerable relatives and friends. These simple precautions will help save you and your family from serious illness or long-term disability.

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    BuDS AGM 2022

    Ben Clark

    Your chance to learn more about us and get involved!

    The BuDS Annual Meeting for 2022 will be held online at 3 pm on Saturday 19 November. This isn’t a stuffy meeting but a celebration of all we have done in this extraordinary year. There’s plenty of opportunity to ask questions and get involved in our work.

    How to Attend

    The meeting will be held using Microsoft Teams. If you’re not familiar with this system, just drop us an e-mail at info@buds.org.uk or call 01494 211179 and we’ll talk you through it.

    If you need any help to attend the AGM because of a disability or medical condition, we’ll be happy to provide it for you. Just drop us an e-mail at info@buds.org.uk or call 01494 211179 and we’ll sort everything out so you can enjoy the AGM like everyone else. Please try to give us a few days notice, though.

    To attend the AGM, use the link here. We look forward to seeing you there!

    BuDS staff and volunteers wearing masks stand around the statue of Sir Ludwig Guttmann at Stoke Mandeville Stadium

    BuDDy Tour to Assess National Paralympic Heritage Trust Phone App

    Ben Clark

    As part of the BuDS Fair4All Visitor project, a ‘BuDDy tour’ of six disabled people from BuDS visited the Paralympic Heritage Trust at Stoke Mandeville Stadium on 4 September 2022. The purpose of the visit was to assess and help develop a new phone app being developed by the Trust. The app guides visitors around the Stadium and its surroundings, giving information about the things to see and do.

    All the tourists were volunteers or BuDS staff. We were not paid or commissioned by the Paralympic Heritage Trust, and our views and opinions are entirely independent.

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    BuDS’ Immediate Reaction to Government’s ‘Mini-Budget’ – 23 September 2022

    Ben Clark

    BuDS is dismayed by the tax and spending changes announced by the Government today and feels it will mean harder and more difficult times for disabled people over the next few years, and possibly longer.

    The Government has announced tax cuts and new handouts for private businesses and multinationals which will cost the taxpayer multiple billions of pounds, but has said nothing about how these changes are to be paid for. In reality, the only way for the Government to pay for these massive changes is by borrowing more, or by cutting public services, or both. It is completely unacceptable to launch a huge spending spree at tax-payers’ expense without also being honest and open about what this means for public services like pensions, benefits, roads and transport, education, the NHS, social care and all the other things which make society work.

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