Last Friday, 6th October, marked the Charity’s annual Red, White & Blue day in schools. The annual fundraising initiative, which raises vital funds for ourselves, The RAF Benevolent Fund and The Royal Navy, and Royal Marines Charity, helps us to promote awareness of the difficulties faced by Service families.
Read moreFollow this link to all the latest news from the RAF Families Federation.
Read moreThe atmosphere was electric when over 350 guests gathered at the National Conference Centre, home of the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull for Troop Aid’s highest profile event of the year, the Annual Ball. A registered charity, Troop Aid’s patron is HRH The Prince of Wales.
All were greeted upon arrival by a guard of honour. From young Sea Cadets to current military personnel, from members of the Royal British Legion to a Chelsea Pensioner, the evening appealed to everyone who was keen to support the Midlands based charity that supports our injured service troops.
Read more
Largest sum donated to UK-based organisations in military event’s history
Following its nineteenth consecutive sell-out year, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo has announced today it will donate £1M to UK-based charitable organisations this year, bringing the total donated by the military spectacle since 1950 to over £10M.
The 2017 donations will be split between seventeen major Arts or Armed Forces organisations and is the largest sum of money ever donated by the Tattoo to UK-based organisations in its history.
Read moreRecently the country rallied behind the brave ex-service men and women as they once again represented our country and battled for Gold at the Invictus Games in Toronto. It has been great to see our veterans getting the attention they deserve and shining a light on some of the issues they have faced since leaving the military.
If there is one issue that stood out to me at this year’s Games, it was mental health. I was so impressed by the number of athletes suffering from PTSD who stepped up and were willing to share their stories, which has not always been the case.
Read moreA free online course designed to help RAF couples deal with the challenges of family life has hit a milestone after its 300th family reached out for help.
Building Stronger Families, launched by the RAF Benevolent Fund with the help of national relationship charity Relate, is tailored to the needs of RAF families to give couples the skills and knowledge they need to deal with common relationship issues, including communication, conflict and family life.
The RAF Benevolent Fund has funded Relate for nine years to provide free counselling sessions for those who feel professional help would be a benefit.
Read moreThe Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, the RAF’s leading welfare charity, is pleased to announce that John Trampleasure has joined its senior leadership team as Director of Fundraising and Communications effective Monday 2 October.
John has led an exciting 25-year career in fundraising and communications within the third sector, working for organisations such as Shelter, World Animal Protection and most recently, Ambitious About Autism.
In his role, John will lead a team of more than 30 staff across RAF Benevolent Fund headquarters and regional offices as the organisation gets ready to roll out a new three-year strategic plan led by new Controller Air Vice-Marshal David Murray, who joined the Fund last year.
Read moreTuesday 10 October marks World Mental Health Day
Newly released statistics from the RAF Benevolent Fund have revealed that a significant number of RAF personnel attending relationship counselling report that their mental well-being improved following the completion of counselling.
The data comes from the most recent evaluation report of the Fund’s counselling programme, which is offered in partnership with Relate to all serving RAF personnel, free of charge. The service, which the charity funds to the tune of more than £100k per annum, has helped thousands of couples since it began nine years ago and more than 65 couples have accessed the counselling in the first half of 2017 alone.
Read moreThe RAF Association is opening its Flying Scholarship awards for the eighteenth year to grant six exceptional young people the chance to fly.
So far, 99 air cadets have benefited from the programme, with the 100th cadet due to be among the 2018 finalists. The best of the 2018 applicants will be rewarded with a course of 35 hours flight training in a light aircraft. Five ‘runners-up’ will receive 12 hours training each. The Flying Scholarship programme runs annually as a thank you from the RAF Association to members of the RAF Air Cadets for their continuous support of the charity’s fundraising.
All of the 2017 winners achieved solo flights by the end of their week of training.
Read moreThe Rt Hon Tobias Ellwood MP will outline why business should recruit former officers, at an OA event in London.
As Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence People and Veterans, Mr Ellwood will highlight that ‘Military is Good for Business’. As a former Army captain, he understands the career challenges officers face on leaving the Armed Forces. Former Trade Minister and Crossbench Peer, Lord Digby Jones, and Chief of Defence People, Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, will also attend.
Read more
Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here
