With the main Olympic games over attention turns to the Paralympic games in the host city. The Vancouver Olympic Centre has become The Vancouver Paralympic Centre and the medals have Braille on them; it’s a brilliant competition shining with equality. We have a video report too.

Having a disabled brother who is skiing crazy and uses a sit-ski himself the Paralympic games highlight how accepting the world can be when it wants. It’s a lovely sight to see disabled athletes competing on the worlds highest sporting stage doing what they love.

Let the games begin...

But here in Britain the Paralympics aren’t exactly drawing the same exposure as the able-bodied games did last month. The BBC are lacking coverage, instead highlighting the two weeks competition in one hour at the end and the newspapers are writing supplements on these games. It’s a sad sight really but there is no doubt that our British represenatives out in Canada will have a brilliant time.

Sean Rose and Ben Clatworthy in October 2009.

We might just bring home another GBR medal; Sean Rose has already won gold in the Disabled Skiing World Cup this year and is on top form. Its a perfect chance for him to shine and boost coverage of Paralympic sports in the UK. I met Sean in October last year at the Metro Ski and Snowboard show and he is a truly inspirational skier – I’ve kept in contact with him since and written several articles this year as I followed his progress.

I wish all of Great Britain’s athletes at the games the very best of luck and really hope I’ll be able to write a blog on a medal sometime in the next fortnight.

If you’re interested in finding out more about skiing for the disabled why not check out these videos I made last season on Disabled skiing. It’s an inspirational sport! Click here to watch the videos.

If you are interested in using any of these videos please contact Ben Clatworthy through his website. Thank you.

Last week Ben Clatworthy blogged about a rather novel way of raising money for Haiti at a school in Bristol.

Clifton College made a 640 foot line of coins consisting of over 15 different currencies, which stretched from the schools Memorial Arch to the Chapel and back again.

In total the event raised £530, however this sum does not include the foreign currency yet.

The event was covered by local media including Bristol Evening Post and also in an article by Ben Clatworthy for Bristol-27.com.

Following one of the world’s greatest recent disasters, fund-raising efforts for the Haiti Earthquake Appeal have been endless. Ben Clatworthy reports from a rather novel way of raising money in Bristol.

There is no doubt that the Haiti earthquake which shock the country on 12 January 2010 is one of the worst disasters to strike in recent history. An estimated 150,000 people have died with scores more left homeless and injured. Haiti, with a $380 million debt to the International Monetary Fund, and just two fire stations on the entire island is in no position to provide care and support for the injured.

That’s where the rest of us come into the picture. Every penny raised for the Disasters Emergency

Pennies on the Parapet

Committee (DEC) helps to provide aid and vital support for those in need. Schools, companies, local societies and many more people have been holding fund raising events up and down the country. Many schools will have opted for a home clothes day, and companies a ‘dress down’ day, but is that really the most effective way of raising money?

Clifton College Upper School in Bristol, where I am a pupil, came up with a rather novel way of raising vital money for the appeal. A 640 foot line of coins was made by donations from pupils, teachers, support staff, porters, catering staff, cleaners and many more people.  The line 3 coins wide in places, stretched from the schools Memorial Arch up the parapet to the Chapel and then back again. The word ‘Haiti’ was also made out of coins in the ‘Quadrant’ next to the Chapel.

The event was the brainchild of Fiona Hallworth, Director of Charities at the school, who told me, “The event has been an undoubted success with everyone giving some money to help make the line. It’s a much better way of raising money compared to a home clothes day or cake sale as everyone is getting involved and wanting to give more to help extend the line.”

Clifton College pupils show their support for Haiti

The majority of the 720 pupils at school donated along with countless members of staff and even members of the public who were intrigued by the idea as they walked past the school.

Heather Williams, Head of Marketing told me, “We have an estimated total of around £600 – £800 but it will take a while to count all the money. Over 15 different currencies were laid down and every single last penny will be counted and go directly to the DEC. With pupils from over 32 different countries at the school we expect lots of foreign currency.”

The school are always looking for new ways to raise money and yesterday’s event is yet another success story for the Charities Committee, who meet every Monday. A second ‘Fashion and Music Show’ is planned for Commemoration weekend this May, with more details expected soon, but I’ve been told to it’s going to be X-Factor meets fashion.

I will make sure I let you know the final total raised from the event in the coming week or so. It was quite an event!

Every little helps...

As the UK starts to recover from the recent snowy weather Ben Clatworthy takes at look at the British reaction to snow.

Snow, neige, nevar, sneeuw, or however you say it is very much a factor of winter weather. In fact, each year 1.27 million Britons up-sticks and head to the mountains all in a quest to find snow.

In the past week the UK has been brought to a standstill as people battle with freezing temperatures, heavy snow and treacherous ice. More than 8,000 schools were closed across the country, including the whole of Clifton College, as a result of the extreme weather. The closures meant that around 230,000 pupils were given the day off school and the perfect opportunity to head out and play in the snow.

The snow really went to the heads of newspaper and television companies as pages and pages, or hours and hours of coverage were given to the snow. On Wednesday night the BBC were left with hours of blank schedule after the League Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Manchester City was called off. How did they fill it? Well half an hour was given to a ‘BBC News Special: The Big Freeze’ – anyone would have thought we were in for an ice age. Many would say they were trying just that bit too hard.

If you watched the BBC at all that day, I would totally forgive you if you were left, stranded indoors, scared, shaking and fearing for your life; they made out snow was the most dangerous, horrible, life-threatening thing that the UK had ever seen.

Supermarkets went without deliveries, thousands of pints of milk were reported to have gone to waste as milkmen and lorries were unable to provide houses and shops and there is no doubt about it that people went panic buying. On Saturday Waitrose was completely out of normal milk with dwindling supplies of bread and vegetables.

Fun for some

Snowy road in Bristol

Oblivious to the state of emergency scores of children happily played on every green-space with snowmen dotted across the Downs in Bristol and in front gardens everywhere. It’s been a very fun time for children and grown-ups alike who were unable to make it to work. 14% of the UK workforce was reported to have stayed at home on Wednesday 7 January costing the economy £0.5 billion per day.

But questions are being provoked as people ask whether schools were right or wrong to close and if they should have made more effort to stay open. An unnamed primary school teacher in Bristol told me over the weekend, “Bristol Local Authority wouldn’t execute a ‘blanket closure’ of schools and instead just gave schools a single-lined telephone number to call and give details of closure.”

With more snow expected in the coming days these unanswered questions could lead to further disruption.

Ben used information from the BBC, The Evening Standard, The Guardian and the Ski Club of Great Britain to compile this article