On Wednesday 19th July, Ann Milcoy retired from the NFA after 16 brilliant years. Ann has been the rock of the charity since October 2001, supporting 4 Chief Executives, organising countless collections and providing the office with song, dance and laughter. She will be sorely missed, but we wish her all the very best in her retirement!
Read moreOn 29 June, Corporal Jon Ward will take on 11 marathons in 11 days as part of his 100 marathon challenge.
Based at RAF Lossiemouth as a Logistics Mover, Jon’s first ever marathon was back in 2007, when he took on the 26.2 mile race in London, completing it in four hours 56 minutes.
It was two years ago, however, that Jon set his sights on joining the exclusive 100 marathon club. A challenge which would pay homage to his career in the Royal Air Force as he aims to complete his last ever race on the centenary of the RAF.
Read moreIn recent years the Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS) has extended their person-centred medical welfare service to military veterans, a population which is growing and increasingly in need of our care. Our Welfare Officer, Karen Daniels, provides practical and emotional support to veterans aged 65+, who are receiving medical treatment at the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) in Manchester.
A few weeks ago Karen met Mr Paddy Black, a 96 year old WW2 veteran at CMFT Manchester, where he attended as an outpatient 3x a week for blood transfusion.
Read moreThe RACPD is a leading provider of nationally recognised civilian qualifications to the Royal Artillery, other Service personnel and the wider Defence community including reservists, veterans and dependants. They are also a charity.
Read moreFollow this link to all the latest news from Forward Assist.
Read moreAs the summer holidays arrive, a national charity is calling on relatives visiting their loved ones to look out for indications that they may be struggling with sight loss. Blind Veterans UK often sees a spike in applications following holiday periods, which the charity attributes to referrals from relatives who have visited a grandparent or elderly relative and noticed a deterioration in their vision.
Paul Hartley, the Senior ROVI (rehabilitation officer for people with vision impairment) at Blind Veterans UK, said: “Over the summer holidays many people will visit their grandparents or relatives for the first time in a while, and they may notice changes in their loved one’s behaviour.
Read moreThe Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS) is delighted to have been elected to the Confederation of Service Charities (Cobseo) Executive alongside War Widows Association and the Poppy Factory. The results were announced during the Cobseo Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 11 July 2017.
Cobseo’s Chairman, General Sir John McColl, opened the Annual Meeting with a warm welcome. He reported on the past activities of the Confederation and gave an update on current issues concerning the members. He said: “The size and shape of the Armed Forces have undergone, and continue to undergo, radical alteration with further reviews round the corner.
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT), in collaboration with Centre for Mental Health and King’s Centre for Military Health Research, has issued its second highlight notice under its multi-million pound Mental Health Research Programme, a five year programme established to encourage high quality research in the field of veterans’ and their families’ mental health.
The aim of this highlight notice is to encourage applications through the Mental Health Research Programme (MHRP) that propose innovative ways to identify, evaluate and/or propose new methods to address employment rates of former Services personnel with mental ill-health.
Read moreUK Armed Forces personnel moving back into civilian life and having difficulties with alcohol could be helped by the use of online tools, a new study has revealed.
The research led by Newcastle University, published in the Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, shows that web-based programmes may be an effective way to tackle excess alcohol consumption.
Findings by the experts have now been used to develop new documents funded by the Forces in Mind Trust to summarise the effectiveness of interventions to protect the wellbeing of those in the military.
Read moreOver this last year Miramar, an executive search company based in Richmond, Surrey, has given fantastic support to Future for Heroes. As their adopted charity, their backing has ranged from financial support, raising awareness of our charity in both the national and international corporate arenas, the provision of much-needed IT and social media awareness training (thank you Forefront Media), to fulfilling their ‘proper’ role in executive search, finding potential new trustees for our charity.
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Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here
