Cameras drop in at BHF HQ

A TV crew from the BBC paid BHF a visit yesterday to film one of our Speak Up workshops.

The cameras are following Hannah Jones for a documentary which will air later this year.

At the age of four, was diagnosed with leukaemia, and the medication gave her a life threatening heart condition.

Last year, aged 12, Hannah was told she would die unless she had heart transplant. But, tired of a life of invasive medical attention, she refused the operation and asked to be allowed to live her life, however long that may be.

The Hannah Jones Documentary follows Hannah's journey since her decision, as she takes her first steps to live her life despite having a terminal heart condition.

Yesterday was the first time she'd met other young people with heart conditions. After a series of games and activities at the workshop, which gave everyone a lot to think about, the day was completed with a fun trip to the London Eye.

Watch this space for more information about when the documentary will air.

Speak Up is our fun one-day workshop for young people aged between 13 and 19 who are living with heart conditions. As well as finding out how to feel more confident and communicate with others, participants learn how to talk to others about their condition in a supportive and creative way.

The Speak Up workshop is part of Meet@TeenHeart - our project for young people with heart conditions. Check out the Meet@TeenHeart website yheart.net/meet for more information or contact Sarah Ashton at ashtons@bhf.org.uk

To Barca and back in a banger - and it's all for the BHF

Fundraising friends Stuart Heslington and Garry Bletcher are getting ready to drive an old banger from Sheffield to Barcelona and back in just eight days to raise money for us.

The duo don't know if their 1989 Volkswagen Scirocco (pictured above) - which they paid just £175 for - will be up to the job of covering the 2,500 mile round-trip journey. It's been standing idle and unloved for years, but they've been working hard on getting it up to scratch.

Stuart and Garry have spent months repairing the car, replacing engine parts, tyres and brakes on a shoestring. And to make sure they make a real impact they've have even gone to the trouble of creating a Hawaiian theme, painting the car with palm trees and a parrot.

Stuart, 37, a primary school caretaker, was inspired to help us after he lost his dad Norman to a heart attack at the age of just 43.

"I heard about the challenge and it's an ideal way to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation. I lost my dad to heart disease when I was young and wanted to help this charity save other lives at risk," he said.

"I have completed the Sheffield half marathon in the past to raise money and this time we hope to raise £500.

"The car's done 150,000 miles which is quite a way. It sounds more like a diesel than a petrol. There's quite a risk involved - it's a long way for an old banger. But it will be nice for the old car to go out with a bang rather than being taken to the scrapyard."

Stuart and Gary will start the journey this Friday (22 May) in Calais.

You can sponsor them now at justgiving.com/stuartheslington

What's the most 'extreme' thing you've done to raise money for the BHF? Tell us about it by posting a comment below...

Say it (and save lives) with BHF Flowers

Our gift range has just been extended to offer a wide range of beautiful flowers provided by Arena Flowers.

With 20 per cent from all orders going to our help our vital, pioneering and lifesaving work, it’s another great way that you can support BHF research into heart disease.

And to introduce the flowers into our range, we’ve set up a competition where you can win a £50 bouquet by telling us who you’d most like to give flowers to and why.

View our new BHF Flowers range

Enter the BHF Flowers competition

Time to help?

Some of our volunteers have taken part in this short video below to help us promote our upcoming campaign to recruit more BHF volunteers.

Have a quick watch, and then if you think you'd like to join our growing army of volunteers then you can find out more here - thanks for your time, enjoy the video!

BHF Events quick out of the blocks!

Our 2009 events season is off to a storming start, and participant numbers for many events are already significantly higher than this time last year.

This year, our aim is to raise more than £9m events from our events. Two World Experiences events have also taken place this year, with fundraisers trekking to Everest Base Camp and biking from London to Amsterdam.

This April, we had a fantastic 3200 runners taking part in the Bournemouth Bay Run - well over double the number who took part in the same event last year.

Similarly, our Hyde Park Jog brought out a staggering 1969 runners, who chose to jog 5k or 10k around the beautiful royal park - more than doubling last year's numbers.

And of course April 26 saw 650 Heart Runners take to the London streets to run the gruelling 26 miles marathon route. A huge thank you to everyone who came along to help cheer on our heroic runners.

If you haven't signed up yet for a BHF Event this summer, don't worry!

We've got a fantastic range of runs, jogs, bike rides, walks, hikes and swims coming up over the next couple of months.

Find out more right now in the Events section of our website

Have you taken part, or are you taking part, in a BHF Event this year? If so, why not share your story by posting a comment below...