Bradley Blakemore currently plays in the Colchester United Boys Development Centre U11s and he and his sister have a brave and inspirational story.
At an early age Bradley and Tori-Mae sadly lost their mother and have since spent time raising money in her memory, for a charity called Scotty’s Little Soldiers. Through the charity, the youngsters took part in Scotty’s March, in Chiltern, where fundraisers can choose to either walk or run a 10k, 25k or 50km route.
The aim of the siblings’ fundraising efforts is to raise awareness for the bereavement charity, which is a cause very close to their hearts.
What is Scotty’s Little Soldiers?
Scotty’s Little Soldiers is a bereavement charity, supporting bereaved military children. They say - “When a parent dies, the impact on that child is significant. When that parent served in the military, the impact is even greater, with children often feeling they’ve lost their connection to the military community.”
Scotty’s Little Soldiers aims to prevent that, offering the very best bereavement support that they can, in such difficult circumstances.
Scotty’s Little Soldiers’ pledge is to be supporting over 1000 children and young people each year, providing a reason to smile, opportunities to achieve great things and receive the emotional support that they may need to become their very best version of themselves.
Bradley & Tori-Mae’s Story
On 18th October 2020, Bradley and Tori-Mae were at home when they became aware that their mother was having a life-threatening experience, however, together, Bradley and Tori-Mae demonstrated phenomenal bravery and calmness in the situation that they faced managing to raise the alarm to the emergency services and administer first aid and CPR for over 20 minutes.
Further treatment was given once the ambulance arrived but tragically, their mother, Sarah Louise Bishop, passed away in hospital.
Both of the children have been recognised nationally for their incredibly brave actions with Royal Humane Society and a Police Public Bravery Awards and as a show of our support and admiration for these incredible young people, Bradley attended Colchester United 1st team fixture vs Barrow as our Community Champion.
Bradley had an exclusive experience with a behind the scenes tour of the JobServe Community Stadium, met the CUFC 1st Team Squad and Management Team and was presented with our Community Champion award prior to the game, with 1st team players Ellis Landolo & Owura Edwards leading the presentation, he then lead both teams onto the pitch with the referee at 7.45pm, in-front of 3,500 fans.
To top of a fantastic evening for Bradley, Owen Goodman, Colchester United 1st Team Goalkeeper passed over a pair of his match worn gloves to Bradley, who is also a goalkeeper within the Colchester United pathway.
We hope that Bradley enjoyed his experience - we were certainly honoured to be able to host him, and we wish him and his family all the best for the future.