The RAF Benevolent Fund has recently awarded a grant of £250,000 to Combat Stress in recognition of the vital work it does to help veterans with mental health problems. This brings the total awarded to Combat Stress to £2.1million since 2014.
Read moreA staggering £25,303 was raised at Royal Ascot’s Armed Forces Day for the three leading Armed Forces charities, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity and the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.
Read moreEleven-year-old Tia Carter will represent the Royal Air Force and the RAF Benevolent Fund when she takes part in the Coin Toss Ceremony on Centre Court on Saturday, 14 July.
Tia and the RAF Benevolent Fund were nominated by the Wimbledon Foundation, the official charity of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the Championships to mark the centenary of the RAF and the longstanding relationship between the Armed Forces and Wimbledon.
Read moreMore than 200 Bomber Command veterans and their families gathered to remember their fallen comrades at a service at Bomber Command Memorial in London’s Green Park on Sunday.
The annual service remembers the 55,573 airmen of Bomber Command who were killed during the Second World War and is held on the anniversary of the Memorial’s unveiling by Her Majesty the Queen in 2012. The service, led by Canon Brian Lucas, is organised by the RAF Benevolent Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity and guardians of the Memorial.
Read moreAward winning premium spirits producer HDC (Heroes Drinks Company) have partnered with the RAF Benevolent Fund to create a limited-edition gin to commemorate 100 years of the RAF (Royal Air Force).
Lord Trenchard Gin has been created by military veteran and HDC Managing Director Chris Gillan, who founded HDC after a training injury ended his RAF career. Chris struggled with the transition to civilian life after he was left facing homelessness following a flood which destroyed his property. He turned to the RAF Benevolent Fund for help and their support enabled Chris to turn his life around and inspired him to dedicate his career to giving back to military charities and helping other members of Britain’s Armed Forces community.
Read moreThe RAF’s leading welfare charity, the RAF Benevolent Fund has announced the shortlisted nominees for its sixth annual awards. The winners of nine awards categories will be revealed at a special ceremony at London’s Gibson Hall, to be held on 7 June 2018.
Air Vice-Marshal David Murray, Chief Executive of the RAF Benevolent Fund, said: “The RAF Benevolent Fund simply could not carry out the vital work that we do, supporting the RAF Family, without the help of our incredible supporters. Each year it gets harder and harder to decide on the winners of these awards and that is a testament to the hard work, dedication and creativity with which our supporters contribute to the Fund and its work.
Read moreToday marks 75 years since the RAF’s now legendary Dambusters set off on their audacious raid to destroy three German dams at the heart of the Nazi war machine.
Fifty-three pairs of gloves laid out by the RAF Benevolent Fund at the Bomber Command Memorial were a stark reminder of the lives lost that night, the families left without a loved one. RAF Chaplain Michael Chatfield paid tribute to the 133 brave airmen who set off on the raid in 1943 and RAF bugler Corporal Andrew Lofthouse signalled a minute’s silence with the Last Post.
RAF Benevolent Fund Director of Fundraising and Communications John Trampleasure laid a wreath in memory of the airmen killed.
Read moreThe 76-year-old was overwhelmed by the lengths the RAF’s leading welfare charity went to, to fulfil his dying wish after he contacted them for practical help following a terminal cancer diagnosis. He was watched by his entire family, siblings, his three children, eight grandchildren including one watching online from Taiwan, and two new great-grandsons as staff at Biggin Hill Heritage Hanger helped him into the aircraft. Even Spitfire pilot Don Sigournay paid his own respects, dipping the wings of his Spitfire in tribute to John’s service as he flew past the hangar.
John’s daughter Tracy Weager said: “When I first told dad ‘get your flying jacket cleaned, we’re going to Biggin Hill’ he burst into tears.
Read moreA new series of books aimed at improving the mental health of the RAF Family has been launched at RAF Benson Community Primary School by the RAF’s leading welfare charity, the RAF Benevolent Fund.
The Fund is piloting the books in response to research which found more than half of military parents believed a military lifestyle had a negative impact on their children and led to an increase in psychosocial problems.
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