LOCAL FACE: BEN GLAZIER

Ben is the person behind the #CarryUsThrough postage stamp campaign issued by the Isle of Man Government; so how did a set of stamps for the Isle of Man, and a publicity campaign that seems to have been adopted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, start in Wendover?

Ben studied law, then worked in PR and now runs a creative agency in London, creating branding, graphic design and strategic campaigns for global firms including Xerox and Nestle; designing stamps is a pleasant distraction from more commercial work. Ben’s agency is known for the intricate detail they include in projects and this caught the eye of the Isle of Man Government, for whom he has created several issues, including ‘100 years of the RAF’, which was included in RAF Halton’s events.

The story behind the Carry Us Through stamps relates to how the Coronavirus Pandemic has changed our lives. On a Saturday evening in March, the GM of Isle of Man Stamps and Coins rang Ben and asked a simple question. “How can we support our Doctors, Nurses and Key Workers with a stamp issue?” Ben spent Sunday thinking about how to thank those who had contributed: nurses, doctors, healthcare workers, paramedics, bus drivers, shop-workers – the list was endless. Was it enough to just say thank you?

Ben came up with #CarryUsThrough, a campaign concept that had a distinct aim – get people through this period. It was built around a message of hope that Love, Faith, Care, Compassion, Work, Community, Science and Words will Carry Us Through this crisis and our recovery. Ben had the concept approved and briefed his designers that they were going to create a set of stamps in a day (rather than six months). HM Queen Elizabeth gave Royal Approval in record time and the stamps were sent to every household in the Isle of Man as lockdown started.

That was March. As we move into a tough winter, the message is as true now as it was then. Some of us have lost friends, jobs, businesses, some their homes. Ben feels the need for us to support each other very keenly; as lockdown developed, Ben was supported by Wendover Dementia Action Alliance as his mother became progressively incapable of caring for herself. He believes that the only way for communities to survive is for every person to support everyone around them – there is no place in this time for negativity.

Wendover News arranged for large blowups of the stamps so that we could celebrate our own ‘local heroes’ and in his address to the nation on Tuesday 22 September, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “Now is the time for us all to summon the discipline and the resolve and the spirit of togetherness that will Carry Us Through”. An intentional reference? Ben hopes so.

Stamps are just a small part of Ben’s life (ha ha); his work has seen him work on a project with Professor Stephen Hawking, meet all the living Apollo Astronauts, receive the Flight Director’s Medallion from NASA and has taken him on trips to far flung places, but it was meeting his wife Angie that took him to Australia. In December 1998 Angie had a short working holiday planned in the UK, just three months away from the Australian political scene, where she was a ministerial adviser. Three months became two years and after getting engaged at the top of the World Trade Centre in 2000, Ben and Angie married in Melbourne. They have three children, all of whom attended John Hampden School; two now go to John Colet, and their eldest is at Sir Henry Floyd. When he gets a chance to relax, Ben likes to be outside, either on his allotment or building hives for his bees; these are not hobbies shared by his children, so they do give him some peace and quiet.

A major part of Ben’s life is involved with supporting charities and community projects. For a long time, Ben was better known to many in Wendover as the ‘Barbecue Guy’ at Wendover Junior Cricket Club – along with RichardPeck and Werner Van Rensburg, Ben kept the kids and parents fed. There are many more parts to Ben’s charity work; as well as being a member of Barbican and Hampden Lodges, who do so much for charity, he is a Trustee of Action Against Abduction where he has helped deliver the ‘Clever Never Goes’ campaign, the replacement for Stranger Danger that runs in more than 1000 schools and was recently adopted by the Metropolitan Police. He is also an adviser to The Stephen Hawking Foundation and Across, the charity for critically ill people who wish to go on pilgrimage.

There have been some memorable moments in Ben’s work and charity life, but along with meeting Buzz Aldrin and going onto the floor of NASA ISS Mission Control in Houston, perhaps his favourite was presenting a limited-edition book of his gravitational theory stamps to Professor Stephen Hawking in the Governor’s study at the Bank of England. It was an impromptu presentation, so not expecting Professor Hawking to say anything, Ben started to leave. The Professor’s voice computer made a noise and the carers said that he wanted to say something. Professor Hawking used his face muscles to control his computer and after what felt like an agonising amount of time, said four words: “Thank you very much”.

Ben would like to point out that although most pictures show him clean shaven, at the start of lockdown he grew a beard and said he would shave it off “when things got back to normal”. The beard is still there.

The header photo shows Ben with his family at the memorial service for Stephen Hawking in 2018.