Making a difference - Conversations with a successful BBK Charity applicant

In this episode, Rebecca Sheriff, Partner and Trustee of the BBK Charity, speaks with Ian Hosking, Director of the Wheelchair Rugby Experience and a successful BBK Charity grant recipient. They discuss how the charity’s funding has supported Ian’s mission, the real‑world impact on participants, and why accessible sport matters.

The BBK Charity was founded by the partners of Bolt Burdon Kemp LLP in 2025 with a clear purpose - to give back. The charity supports a wide range of causes, with a particular focus on helping injured people and their families across the UK, supporting charitable projects around our office in the city of London, improving access to the legal profession for people from diverse backgrounds, and championing equality, diversity and inclusion within the legal sector. Grants range from £100 to £10,000.

You’ll hear more about:

• How BBK Charity funding has strengthened the project
• The importance of inclusive sport for injured people
• Real examples of lives changed through the programme
• Why community‑focused grants make a difference

Transcript

Rebecca Sheriff 0:07

Welcome to this latest episode of BBK Free Speech Podcast, brought to you by Bolt Bird and Kemp, a leading firm of solicitors for serious injury claims. My name is Rebecca Sheriff, and I'm a partner in the abuse team here at BBK. Today, however, I'm joining this podcast in my role as a trustee of the Bolt Burdona Kemp Charity. The BBK Charity was founded by the partners of BBK LLP in 2025 with the aim of giving back. As a charity, we support a broad range of charitable causes with a particular focus on helping injured people and their families in the UK, supporting charitable projects around our office in the City of London, helping people from diverse backgrounds access the legal profession as a career, and supporting initiatives which promote equality, diversity, and inclusion within the legal profession. Each year we invite applications from charities and individuals, and we give out grants ranging from £100 to £10,000. Today I'm delighted to be joined by Ian Hosking. Ian recently made an application to the BBK Charity, and I'm delighted that he was successful. I'm so pleased that he's able to join us today to talk about how the grant has helped him. Welcome, Ian. It's a pleasure to have you.

Ian Hosking 1:17

Good morning, nice to be here.

Rebecca Sheriff 1:19

So can I ask, what made you initially apply to the BBK Charity?

Ian Hosking 1:23

Well, I was kind of introduced to the BBK Charity through the work that my wheelchair rugby club does with you. You're very kind in supporting the Wheelchair Rugby Club, have done for a number of years, um, you know, certainly that we couldn't do at the club what we do without your help. And I was then made aware of the charity being launched and what you were trying to achieve with it, just from those interactions that I already had with with Bob Burden Kemp. From then, it was initially I kind of spread the word to within the my wheelchair, certainly my wheelchair rugby team, to let them know that you were there and that you were willing to offer help to those that you felt that would fit the fit the bill for what it was you were trying to do. And there was um a point when actually where I thought there's something that I could do with myself. I'm just going to apply because why not? You know, the the what's the worst that can happen? You can say, sorry, we we can't help you this time. But I thought, well, let's just apply and and take it from there, really.

Rebecca Sheriff 2:28

That's fantastic. That's exactly exactly what we wanted to achieve, so that's really great. A nd tell us a bit what about what what did you use the grant for?

Ian Hosking 2:36

I bought a unit called a smart drive. The smart drive is an independent power unit that goes on the back of an existing daychair to then help propel you along, and and I wanted it more so for going up sort of hills. I mean, some hills, uh depending on where in the country you are, can be monstrously hill, too, just too steep. And I know that I couldn't cope with that one up or down, but it's the ones that are just that fraction too hard to push, but you still need to be able to get up there. And and the reason I actually applied was because at the time I applied, I was spending a lot of time in St. Ives in Cornwall. Beautiful place, grew up there, was much easier being there before injury. Going there now, visiting as a wheelchair user, it's damn hard work. It's hilly, it's cobbly, it's it's a challenge, and as and as fit as I am from the wheelchair rugby, it was becoming more of a challenge because let's be fair, you know, I'm I'm also aging, I'm an aging tetra. I don't have the same umph I did have 15 years ago, um, but I'm still pretty fit and active. However, this extra little help was something I needed. At the time, I was spending an awful lot of time in Cornwall because sadly, I I recently lost my dad. Um, I was visiting dad an awful lot, so I was probably down in Cornwall every two or three weeks. Um that may have even got more frequent as his health declined. Um, and it was just something I just felt I need I needed something to help me get there and get around. We now I've got I'm one of three brothers, and it was kind of like we now want to spend as much time as we can with our dad as possible while he's still here. And for the first sort of two and a half years, you'd barely know there was anything wrong with him. But but we did, so we all spent a lot more time with him.

Rebecca Sheriff 4:34

So it sounds like it's made quite quite a difference to you. Is it is it quite easy to use?

Ian Hosking 4:38

Yeah, it is easy to use, yeah. It's um it it's you can actually pair it to a smartwatch so that you can power it by banging your arm against your lap or the wheel to turn it on and off. So it's kind of it's it's so easy to use. Um when you put it on the chair, you you've got a bracket that goes on the rear axle of your chair, and and then you hook it on. Uh, and you once you've paired your smartwatch to it, you can go two taps to start it, and the speed will slowly ramp up. And when you get to the speed that you want to get to, one tap will keep it at that pace, and then when you want to stop, it's two taps and it will stop. So it was it was very easy to use. The only the most tricky thing about it is actually fitting it to your chair when you are in it, because you're trying to do it from behind. Uh, that that is the most tricky thing about it.

Rebecca Sheriff 5:30

That sounds fantastic. And is that something that any wheelchair user could use, or is it specific to the the type of wheelchair or is it to do it?

Ian Hosking 5:37

No, no, any wheelchair, because even uh a folding I mean, there are different types of wheelchair, as I'm sure you appreciate. My chair is a rigid frame chair, so it's very easy to fit to mine. Even the the chairs that sort of collapse sideways, um, you can fit that same adaption on that. You've just got to fit a bar onto the chair before you put the smart drive onto it. So the smart drive won't let you go on the bar that you fitted on the wheelchair.

Rebecca Sheriff 6:00

Oh, that sounds fantastic. U I mean, how how did you find the whole process of applying to the charity? What was the process for you?

Ian Hosking 6:07

It was really easy, actually. I just followed the link, filled in the questions that were being asked. I think probably sometimes if you can give it a little bit more detail than just saying, I would like X, okay, maybe you would like X item, but you need to give a little bit more background as to why you need it, how is it going to benefit you, that kind of thing, just so that the panel then that are reading the grants kind of just got more idea of what it is they're dealing with. But but actually, uh the application process really quite easy.

Rebecca Sheriff 6:40

Yeah, that's exactly right. It's a simple application form, and we really just want to hear from you, like you said, not just what what the grant would be for, but how it will impact you and how it will change your life. And actually, we've already heard from you today that it sounds like it's it's it's really made a difference for you, particularly when you're down in Cornwall.

Ian Hosking 6:56

It it was one of those things, it made a big difference, and we'll continue to do so, because actually I'm going to Cornwall this very weekend coming up. Okay, not to see my dad anymore, because like I said, sadly, dad's gone. Um, but it was certainly something it was hugely beneficial when obviously when you're your parents, you when you're on the cusp of losing one that you're very close to, it's a hard time emotionally. And then to have this unit to make it physically easier for me, it it made a big difference right when I needed it.

Rebecca Sheriff 7:27

Oh, I'm I'm really, really pleased, and thank you so much for coming here to to share that with us. So, is it safe to assume that you would encourage other people to apply?

Ian Hosking 7:36

Certainly apply, yeah. And as I say, just give the information, explain why you need a particular item and how it's going to help you. Um you know, the the the the help is there if if you sort of put put the effort in yourself.

Rebecca Sheriff 7:48

Absolutely, and that's you know, that's the whole purpose, that's why we're here. We want to give back and help as many people as we can at the BBK charity. Um, thank you so much, Ian, um, for coming and speaking to us today. It's been great to see you.

Ian Hosking 8:00

Not at all, you're most welcome.

Rebecca Sheriff 8:02

Thank you. Join us again on the next episode of the BBK Free Speech Podcast. Please click and follow wherever you're listening to this podcast from to be notified of all future episodes. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.