Heritage Lottery Fund has granted £21,800 to veterans’ mental health charity, Combat Stress towards establishing its archives.
Combat Stress holds records, including meeting documents, photographs and objects dating back to 1919 when the charity was founded following the First World War. These materials not only represent the history of Combat Stress and the support it provided, but also reflect the changing attitudes over the years to mental health.
Read moreVeterans who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless will benefit from a new grant of £140,000. The grant, awarded to Alabaré’s Homes for Veterans by ABF The Soldiers’ Charity will benefit the charity’s Welsh Homes for Veterans who will receive £50,000 of the grant, and £90,000 will be used by England Homes for Veterans to provide supported accommodation and support for those Veterans in need.
Alabaré’s Homes for Veterans offer support to service men and women across the UK who have left active service and who are experiencing difficulty adapting to civilian life. These former service personnel are homeless or at risk of being homeless, usually due to a lack of support network and social isolation after discharge.
Read moreNew £4m RBLI apartments, specifically designed for veterans, opened by Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon
The Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Michael Fallon, has today opened Royal British Legion Industries’ new £4m apartments for injured veterans. The apartments, which were funded by the Government through The Libor Fund and four corporate donors, including the Morrisons Foundation, were officially opened at a grand event on Friday with over 250 attendees.
Situated on Hermitage Lane near Maidstone, the apartments have been built specifically for veterans who are wounded, injured, sick, or at risk of homelessness. The houses host 24 one and two-bed flats, all with special adaptations to make the lives of those with disabilities easier.
Read moreHampshire County Council and its partners have secured funding from the Armed Forced Covenant Fund to encourage support to the Armed Forces community and strengthen local government’s delivery of the Covenant. The Council decided to use part of the fund for staff training delivered by the Defence Medical Welfare Service (DMWS) to increase understanding and awareness of the Armed Forces.
The Armed Forces Covenant Fund funds projects that support military communities. With around 20,000 serving personnel and 60,000 veterans currently living in Hampshire, the county has one of the largest military communities in England. Due to this significant high number of residents with a military background, Hampshire County Council identified the benefit for further funding to train staff on different aspects of service life.
Read moreThis year, the AFPST is privileged to be supported by Leonardo in our fundraising efforts, a company which is amongst the top ten global players in Aerospace, Defence and Security and one of the biggest suppliers of Defence equipment to the UK MoD. Our inspirational athletes conducted a tour of UK Leonardo sites in April and May, which enthused and motivated employees to start planning and carrying out their own fundraising activities for the AFPST ‘Spirit of Challenge’ campaign.
Highlights from the Edinburgh team have included a team of 12 ‘Leonardo Fitbitters’ who collectively completed over 1.5 million steps in just 5 days, raising over £2,000 in the process. 24 Apprentices based at the Edinburgh site climbed 1,345 metres to reach the summit of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis.
Read moreLast Saturday (9th September) an astonishing 4,000 participants gathered in the iconic grounds of the Longleat Estate to take part in Glow in the Park:Longleat, the 6km UV family fun run.
The wet weather did not dampen the spirits and the crowd and atmosphere were buzzing with excitement. Families, running groups, groups of friends, individuals were swept around the course to 80s and 90s tunes. Disco The grounds were awash with neon sweatbands, face paints, neon tutus and smiles.
The course wound its way round the spectacular estate finishing in front of Longleat House and featured seven fun zones, including The Fluorescent Paint Blast, Squelchy Foam Zone, and for brave hearted runners The Lion’s Den!
Read moreForces in Mind Trust (FiMT) is delighted to award a grant of £153,272 to King’s College London (KCL), to conduct a study to explore the impact of life in the Armed Forces on relationships from the perspective of civilian spouses and partners, who have been victims of Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) by their military counterparts.
The 18-month study aims to address the lack of evidence from the perspective of the spouse, and identify their attitudes to help-seeking and their perceptions of support available. This research is part of a larger study, seeking to establish prevalence and risk factors for DVA within the Armed Forces environment.
Read moreA new initiative by the Aggie Weston’s Storybook Waves project has secured funding from the Annington Trust of over £40,000 for the next three years. Launching at the end of September 2017, the ‘Storybook Waves Book Club in a Box’ initiative seeks to relieve the anxiety of separation that families experience by connecting them through books and a nationwide network of Book Clubs.
Held in community houses at 21 base port areas, the Book Clubs will generally be hosted by Aggie Weston’s Pastoral Workers and will run monthly during term time. Aimed primarily at families of deployed personnel, The Book Clubs will seek to bring families together for fun-filled activity sessions based around the theme of a popular children’s book. While children play, parents can socialise and Pastoral Workers will be on hand to provide support and a listening ear to anyone struggling with the challenges that deployment can bring.
Read moreThe Royal Air Forces Association is looking for volunteer fundraising team leaders and fundraisers to help fund its welfare work in specific areas in the UK.
“Forces personnel and their families sacrifice a normal family life to keep the rest of us safe,” says Katharine Montgomery, Volunteer Manager at the Association. “And we believe that we owe them a debt of gratitude once they have served. We are a welfare charity that focuses on providing practical and emotional help for service personnel and their partners and dependents. We are setting up brand new fundraising teams – looking for people who are passionate about raising money to fund our welfare support for the veterans and serving men and women in the Royal Air Force.”
Read moreFrom RAF Benson to RAF Wyton, the RAF Benevolent Fund has spent almost £50,000 in its second year of support for station families’ days.
The annual events are a much-loved date on the calendar when serving personnel are given the opportunity to share their working life with their loved ones. Families are able to relax and recuperate within their own community, without the pressure of operations, which is particularly important on stations where personnel are deployed short notice.
The RAF Benevolent Fund made grants to 34 stations, awarding a total of £47,000 to support the events.
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Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here
