‘The Ripple Pond are delighted to announce their first Christmas Carol Service. The service will recognise and focus on the families, young and old, of the Armed Forces who support or care for physically or emotionally injured service personnel, veterans or reservists.
Read moreGlobal Brand Performance Media Agency, The Specialist Works, has kindly donated £50,000 worth of advertising space through their Goodwill Rocks initiative to help Combat Stress promote the support they offer to former servicemen and women.
The Goodwill Rocks initiative provides charities with free or low-cost marketing by utilising left over advertising space, enabling them to create efficient fundraising or awareness campaigns in a cost effective way.
Read moreManchester, join Walking With The Wounded at Be At One Manchester on 13 Barton Arcade for an informal drinks evening with an update on the charity and hear how you can become an ambassador for our Walking Home For Christmas campaign.
Military charity Walking With The Wounded (WWTW) is estimating it will treble the number of ex-servicemen and women it supports in 2018, following a 97% increase last year to more than 1,000. With Christmas fast approaching, for many a time of financial pressure and loneliness, more ex-service personnel than ever require support.
Read moreFor the 8th year in a row, ABF The Soldiers’ Charity continues to support the wonderful work that Alabaré’s Homes for Veterans offers with a grant of £140,000. Their support for service men and women across the UK who have left active service and who are experiencing difficulty adapting to civilian life is remarkable.
Read moreA paratrooper’s stirring recollections of the Battle of Arnhem during World War Two were read out at a memorial service.
Operation Market Garden saw British and Polish forces land behind German lines in the occupied Netherlands in September 1944. After nine days of fierce fighting, the allies were defeated.
A memorial service and tree planting ceremony were organised by Broughton House, the Salford home for ex-servicemen and women, and Life for a Life Memorial Forests, to commemorate the solidarity shown by the UK, the Netherlands and Poland during the battle.
Read morePlans for a £12.5m Veterans Care Village at Broughton House in Salford have been approved.
Work on the ambitious scheme is due to start early in 2018 after Salford City Council gave it the go-ahead. Plans were submitted in July following public consultation.
Broughton House is the only home for ex-servicemen and women in the north west and in 2016 celebrated its centenary.
The redevelopment of the two-acre site will be partially paid for through a £3m grant from LIBOR funding, a government initiative to redistribute the proceeds of banking fines. Fundraising by Broughton House is ongoing.
Read moreThis Grandparents’ Day (1 October) Chloë Costello, the granddaughter of a Prudhoe veteran, is urging others with grandparents who served in the Armed Forces and who are now struggling with sight loss to get in touch with Blind Veterans UK.
Chloë, 18, from Corbridge, said: “It was really sad for us when grandad lost his sight because the simple things he used to enjoy, like watching the football or reading the paper, suddenly became a real struggle. But since he found out about Blind Veterans UK he’s become so much more confident and learned so many new skills. The other day he even added me on Facebook!”
Read moreThis Grandparent’s Day (1 October) Adam Knight, the grandson of a Ruddington RAF veteran, is urging others with grandparents who served in the Armed Forces and who are now struggling with sight loss to get in touch with Blind Veterans UK.
Adam, 27, from the Hockley area of Nottingham, said: “We’re really close as a family and it was difficult seeing my grandad battle sight loss, particularly as he’s a man who values his independence. But since joining Blind Veterans UK, he’s learned new skills, made friends and received equipment and training to help him live life to the full. The support has been amazing.”
Read moreCombat Stress has announced a new five-year strategic plan to improve veterans’ recovery experience and enable the charity to raise the money needed to fund its life-changing work.
The plans are in response to the continued growth in demand for the charity’s support, with a 143% increase in referrals over the last decade. In the last year alone Combat Stress received more than 10,000 calls to their Helpline, and more than 2,400 new veterans were referred for treatment.
Following an 18-month period of discussion with veterans, employees, military charities and healthcare professionals, the new strategy has been designed to offer greater flexibility and accessibility to treatment so veterans can be supported more quickly.
Read moreNHS England is in the process of procuring a veterans’ mental health complex treatment service (VMH CTS) that will launch on 1 April 2018.
The purpose of the VMH CTS, which builds on the recent launch of the NHS veterans’ mental health transition, liaison and intervention service (VMH TIL service), is to provide an enhanced service for veterans who have military attributable complex mental health problems, many of whom will have experienced trauma, which have not been resolved earlier in the care/support pathway.
The service will focus on veterans who will benefit from the intensive provision of a range of mental health and social interventions. This may include (but is not limited to) substance misuse, occupational therapy, physical health, employment, accommodation, relationships, finances and trauma focused therapy.
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Afghanistan support
In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here
