Craig's video news items from Kilimanjaro are below
Wednesday 28th October
Tuesday 27th October
Monday 26th October
Sunday 25th October
Craig and his ex Para guide Andy, would love to have a
swell of support to help raise their target fund and have set up their fund
raising page here..........
Craig celebrated his 24th whilst away
on England duty and his team mates surprised him on the eve of their
European final with a special cake and cards. Here's a clip of the
proceedings as they unfolded.........................
European
Runners up
France 3 - England 2
Craig celebrated his 24th birthday as
he and the England team faced France in the European Blind Football
Championships final
on Saturday 4th July.
We're sad to report that our brave
Lions lost 3 - 2 to the French in a thrilling encounter in front of
thousands as the host nation claimed the title.
England led 2 - 1 until the last 5
minutes of the game when France struck an equalizer and the game looked set
for extra time.
Shortly before the final whistle,
the same French player scored again to gain the lead and despite an all out
attacking response, England could not level.
Well done though England!
We're all very proud of you lads!
England's
Number 5
Craig will wear the number 5 shirt
for England during the European Championships.
See our special Blind Football Blog
HERE for daily
updates of what's going on.
Craig
makes the squad
The FA have announced the England
Squad for the forthcoming European Championships in France and Craig is
delighted to have been named. The squad was published on the FA
website on June 17th. For Craig, his inclusion is the culmination of 12
months hard work as he trained hard 3 days a week to develop his skills and
confidence to make it to the top level in blind football. Everyone connected
with Craig's Blog is extremely proud of this, his latest achievement and we
wish him the very best of luck in the European Championships were he is set
to win his first international cap.
Bring us back a medal lad. We're all so very happy and proud for ya!
Team
GB Blind Football
As Craig and the England squad prepare for France 09 and their assault on
the European Championships, we will be blogging their build up progress to
give a taste of the game they play, and how it's played. Look out for
a NEW Team GB page which is under construction and will go live soon
featuring video footage, photos and interviews of Craig and his colleagues
as they train hard to perfect themselves to lift the European Championship
trophy.
For a taster of what it's all about click the England badge below to watch
the BBC's Des Kelly train and play with the squad. It's fascinating stuff!
Granada News
The Granada news team have been with in touch with Craig again to chart his
progress. See the full article below -
Tell Us About Hugo!
Craig talks about Hugo on BBC Radio Merseyside
(click below to play)
Hugo Leads The Way
Following a matching process and a few meetings, Craig and Hugo finally got
together early in Feb and successfully completed a two week intensive
residential training course. 20 month old Hugo has now joined Craig full time at home and the pair are
pretty inseparable. There'll be regular updates and pics of the
dynamic duo as they progress.
"How Tickled I Am"
Craig recently joined forces with Ken Dodd and Lord Mayor of Liverpool Steve
Radford to launch the Poppy Appeal in the city. Watch the Granada News
feature below.
Craig's story was recently featured in a documentaryaired
on ITV which covered the events of 22nd March 2007. Click the play button
below to view part 1. Part 2 follows.
Smudge
& Jonesy's Benches
On Sunday 5th October, Craig's wish to site benches in
memory of pals Adam Smith and Alan Jones was fulfilled by Liverpool City
Council. A service was arranged for the benches to be blessed and
family, friends, Regimental representatives and Liverpool City Council
dignitaries attended for the official siting.
Craig has joined up with the England Blind Football Squad
at their Hereford training headquarters following a successful trial and
will begin training regularly with the squad from September. He will be
training 3 days a week at Hereford as the team prepares for the World
Championships and the 2012 Paralympics and Craig is hoping to gain a place
in the line up to represent Great Britain. We'll provide regular news and
updates on his progress here on the news page.
"This Morning"
Craig and Carla have been interviewed on ITV's "This Morning" programme on
Tuesday 8th July following their appearance in the Daily Mirror. We'll get a
video of it on here for anyone who's missed it. In the meantime, here's a
link to see an extract on "This Morning's" website.
Craig was awarded a Joint Commander's Commendation at a ceremony held in
Fulwood Barracks, Preston recently. The commendation was presented by the
Colonel of the regiment, Major
General Hamish Rollo, and represented Craig's actions during his time in
Basra and following.
On Thursday 27th June, Craig was presented to Her Majesty The Queen
following the presentation of new Colours to his regiment. The Queen chatted
with Craig and Mum, Debbie about his incident and things following his
recovery. Whilst inevitably honoured, Craig was also delighted to be
re-acquainted with his colleagues of Recce Platoon and to be reunited with "Northy",
the Army medic who's first aid undoubtedly had a major part in keeping him
alive.
Last week Craig was
at RAF Woodvale where he delivered a speech to the 611 Air Cadet Squadron at
RAF Woodvale. He was accompanied by Colin Williamson, a fellow veteran with
severely limited vision. Colin now works for St Dunstan’s as a cadet
challenge project officer and public speaker.The
twovisited Woodvale for the Cadet Challenge,
which promotes the work of St Dunstan’s, the charity for ex- service men and
women with significant loss of sight.
Sheila Clemence, who
supports the charity, also attended. She said:“
Craig spoke so well, fielded questions and was surrounded by cadets after
the talk. They all wanted to hear his story.”
Craig was
delighted to visit The Hyperbar in Liverpool recently where he received a
cheque on behalf of his "Freddie Fund" for £1,000 from the management, staff
and customers who have been fundraising to this target with raffles and quiz
nights. A massive thanks from Craig to all who contributed and thanks for a
great night.
On Friday 23rd
May, Craig visited Nine Tree Primary School in Stockbridge Village,
Liverpool. The children and staff of Nine Tree have been raising funds on
behalf of Craig's "Freddie Fund" and presented a cheque for an amazing
£880.00 to Craig at a special morning assembly.
For pictures and
more on this really special day, click
HERE
The
Big Battlefield Bike Ride
Craig and Phil have completed their epic 360 mile
tandem ride across the French battlefields in aid of Headley Court. The
journey started on 26th May and we've tracked their progress daily via a
special Bike Ride Blog page we put together.
For the info
and progress reports on the bike ride click
HERE
Craig's London
Marathon raised £1,100 for St Dunstan's and The Daily Mirror are adding a
further £1000 to it. Craig would like to thank everyone who sponsored him
and also all who donated online following the run, along with the BBC who
highlighted his efforts.
Craig receives a cheque from Roy
Munnerly and Lockwoods staff
Craig's "Freddie
Fund" has recently increased thanks to some fantastic fundraising by the
great people at Marks & Spencer, Lockwoods and Parfetts Wholesale in
Liverpool. Family friend Elaine Munnerly and colleagues at Mark & Spencer
got together and through their efforts have presented a cheque to Craig.
Elaine's husband Roy has continued his brilliant fund raising at Lockwoods
and has presented another cheque to the fund. The staff of Parfetts
Wholesale in Aintree have also been busy raising funds and Craig visited
them to thank them in person and receive a cheque for the "Freddie Fund".
Craig with the "Freddie fundraising
girls" at Parfetts Wholesale
Craig is immensely
grateful for the support of the "Freddie Fund" and to all involved.
Craig
has recently taken part in the 8 mile Commando Memorial Speed March which is
held annually at Spean Bridge in the Scottish highlands. Representing St
Dunstan's, Craig, along with the gratefully appreciated assistance of Royal
Signals Army Cadets from the Yorkshire ACF, completed the challenge and
picked up an award in the process from the organising "Bootnecks".
Click here for pictures
Craig has recently appeared in
The Independent on Sunday as part of a feature produced by Stuart Griffiths
on the effects on the lives of soldiers injured in Iraq. Stuart has
produced a set of candid and powerful photographs and the magazine details
their stories. To see the feature online and read the stories click here -
ARTICLE
Craig was delighted and honoured to be
asked to visit Casterton School near Kirby Lonsdale on Tuesday 4th March.
During his visit, Craig gave a talk about his life and experiences in Basra
and also his road to recovery and his current life and experiences. His
visit was well received and Craig would like to thank all governors, staff
and pupils for their warm hospitality.
Craig has recently
taken to the skies in his quest to master the art of flying. He took the
controls of a light aircraft under the guidance of flying instructor Neil
Hazelhurst at Liverpool Airport and has since been back for more.
His inaugural flight
was captured by Granada News who followed in a helicopter and can be seen in
the video located on the Video Archive page.
Local
Hero Award
Craig was delighted
and honoured to be presented with a Gold Award at Radio City's Local Heroes
Awards in Liverpool.
Click here for more
Craig
Helps To Launch Poppy Appeal
Craig spent Wednesday
24th October in London with the Royal British Legion to help launch this
years Poppy Appeal. He was approached by the Legion who asked if he would be
one of "the faces" for this years appeal. He was honoured to be asked and
readily agreed. Following an early start with the BBC Breakfast live
interview, a major press conference followed to officially open this years
poppy appeal where he gave short interviews to a collection of media folk
from TV and the popular press.
Click here for more
Craig
Receives Mersey Marvel Award
Craig has been
presented with a Mersey Marvel award by the editor of the Liverpool Echo,
Alastair Machray. He is deeply honoured and proud to have been awarded such
recognition for just going about things in what he considers a natural way.
More here
Germany
Calling
Becki presents Craig with his DOLR
tankard
Craig had a flying
visit from Becki Flemming, wife of Carl, a Sgt with the 1st Battalion Duke
of Lancs, during a whistle stop tour back in the UK. Becki kindly presented
Craig with a regimental tankard on behalf of the commanding officer, Lt
Colonel Gary Deakin and the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster's.
Fancy
Seeing You Here!
Joining forces with the St Dunstan's
Awareness Team
During a visit to the
Southport Air Show, we stumbled across a familiar stall on the beach. Manned
by the St Dunstan's Awareness Team, and led by Graham Footer, the stall
encourages visitors to find out more about St Dunstan's and its role. Craig
ended up spending most of the day with the gang chatting with members of the
public and soon found himself a captive audience.
The
Freddie Fund Grows
Close family
friend and "Freddie Fundraiser" Roy Munnerly and the staff at Lockwoods
(Liverpool) Limited raised a massive £500 contribution for "The Freddie
Fund" with their weekly "spot the number" ticket. Roy is
pictured along with a colleague from Lockwoods presenting the donation to
Craig.
A huge thanks to Roy
and everyone at Lockwoods from all at "The Freddie Fund".
Daisy UK
Craig with Eva, Steve, Dave, Ryan, Kelly & Sarah
Thanks to the
support and friendship he has developed with Dave, Eva & Steve @ Daisy UK,
Craig has been continually involved with their sports activities for
disabled kids, and gets a tremendous amount of satisfaction working with
them. His interaction with the group is highly rewarding and, if it needed
it, his confidence and personal communication skills are greatly benefiting
from his involvement. Craig has become quite a magnet to some of the kids
and he loves working with them at every opportunity. Daisy UK provide sports
activities for mainly visually impaired youngsters but also deliver similar
sessions for non disabled groups, helping to encourage interaction at all
levels. The work they do is outstanding and allows children of all abilities
to play together at the same level. To visit the Daisy UK website click HERE
Yellow
Ribbon Foundation Donates To "Freddie Fund"
Craig has received a
donation of £100 from the Yellow Ribbon Foundation to the "Freddie Fund" and
in particular in respect of his presentation of memorial benches in honour
of his fallen friends Adam Smith and Alan Jones. This is a fantastic gesture
from YRF and Craig would like to thank Vicki Evans and all at YRF for their
continued support.