A DEDICATED volunteer has been rewarded for his commitment to a sailing charity in Cornwall.
Len Ritchie has been awarded the Marsh Trust Volunteer Award for his conservation work on a tall ship at Turn to Starboard in Falmouth.
He has been volunteering at the charity for almost three years and helps to repair and maintain the Spirit of Falmouth, a 92-foot long pilot schooner gifted by the Prince’s Trust.
Read moreThe High Sheriff of Clwyd has raised over £8,000 for Blind Veterans UK, the military charity for blind and vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.
Jim O’Toole donated the money after he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb raised funds to purchase vehicles that would assist less-abled veterans visiting the charity’s training and rehabilitation centre in Llandudno to access its popular Woodland Walk.
Of the achievement, which was in fact the second time Jim has climbed Kilimanjaro, he says: “It was exhilarating and of course a fantastic experience. The elements were extremely tough; at night the temperatures at the summit were somewhere between minus 15C and minus 25C, while the oxygen level was only around 50% of that at sea level. We managed to trek eight hours each day, except for the final summit day, which took around 16 hours.”
Read moreA blind veteran from Skegness has received a prestigious award from military charity Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.
Carol Davies, 66 and from Skegness, received the Blind Veterans UK Community Award which is given to recognise the contribution by a blind veteran, spouse, widow or widower to the family of Blind Veterans UK.
Read moreA blind veteran from Llandudno has received the highest honour from military charity Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women.
Billy Baxter, known to many in Llandudno as he serves as the Town Crier, received the honour at the Blind Veterans UK Founder’s Day Awards, held at the charity’s training and rehabilitation centre in Llandudno.
Billy, 53, was presented with the Ted Higgs Prize, considered to be the charity’s highest honour. It was given to Blind Veterans UK in memory of the late Ted Higgs, a blind veteran who lost all of his sight in 1944, whilst serving with the Royal Artillery in the Second World War. It was kindly donated by members of his family and the award is given to a war-blinded veteran in recognition of lifetime achievement with Blind Veterans UK.
Read moreForces Friends, a project providing support to older military veterans, has been awarded the Working Together Award, sponsored by the Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT), at the Soldiering On national awards ceremony on Friday evening (24 March 2017) in London.
The annual Soldiering On Awards provide national recognition for exceptional individuals and organisations working within the Armed Forces Community, and is run by the Soldiering On Through Life Trust. The Working Together award, which recognises an organisation that has demonstrated a commitment to collaboration with the Armed Forces Community, is sponsored for the second time by FiMT
Read moreX-Forces Wins Soldiering On Business Enterprise Award
On Friday 24th March, X-Forces was delighted to join members of the Armed Forces, past and present, and those that support them across the board at the Soldering On Awards 2017. We are honoured to have won the Business Enterprise category!
X-Forces was shortlisted amongst a group of fantastic finalists including; Ex-Military Careers, Huggable Heroes, Heropreneurs and Unsung Hero (University of Wolverhampton).
Read moreForces Friends, a volunteer-led visiting service created in partnership between The Royal British Legion and Age UK Notts won The Forces in Mind Trust’s (FiMT) ‘Working Together’ Award at the 2017 Soldering on Awards.
The Forces Friends team was handed the prestigious award during a ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster, hosted by Angela Rippon and Cassidy Little, in recognition of their commitment and collaborative approach to supporting the Armed Forces community.
Read moreA blind veteran from Hampshire, who has been invited to compete in the inaugural Holman Prize, has been selected as one of the semi-finalists.
Penny Melville-Brown OBE from Fareham was initially invited to compete for the $25,000 prize as a result of the profile she has built for herself across the internet and social media through her online baking project, Baking Blind. If successful, Penny intends to take the project global. First, however, she’ll be required to draw up a detailed plan of exactly how she’d intend to use the money if she were to win.
Read moreTwo sailors from a sailing charity in Cornwall have passed a coveted Royal Yachting Association (RYA) exam.
Turn to Starboard CEO Shaun Pascoe and sailing instructor Dan Fielding both passed the Yachtmaster Instructor assessment at Falmouth last week.
The five-day course is for candidates who are already experienced RYA Cruising Instructor skippers and was a combination of tuition and assessment.
Read moreA 97 year old blind veteran from Sussex was recognised on Friday (10/03) as it was 75 years to the day that he started receiving support from St Dunstan’s, now known as Blind Veterans UK.
Norman Perry, who now lives at the Blind Veterans UK training and rehabilitation centre in Ovingdean, is the longest serving beneficiary of the charity alive today and one of the longest of all time.
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