News

11th October 2018: Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre Conference 2018: Evidence and Policy for Veterans and their Families

The inaugural Forces in Mind Trust Research Centre (FiMT RC) Conference, sponsored by Lord Ashcroft, is being held on 11 October 2018 at Church House in Westminster. The conference will focus on research into veterans and their families from the perspectives of academics, policy makers and service providers, and will cover the processes, challenges, benefits and impact of research, highlighting opportunities for research funding and collaboration during four concise sessions. There will be plenty of scope for networking, questions and discussion. Speakers include Lord Ashcroft PC KCMG, Tobias Ellwood (Minister for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel), Hans Pung (Chair, RAND Europe), Professor Mike Thomas (Vice Chancellor, UCLAN) and Air Vice-Marshal Ray Lock CBE (Chief Executive, Forces in Mind Trust).

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Tackling Veterans’ homelessness: A Call to Action – pledge your support

We asking you to pledge your support and to update you on some very positive developments on our quest to eliminate Veterans’ homelessness following our reception at the House of Lords in March.

The University of York research that we launched at the reception highlights how some ex-Service personnel slip through the net and end up homeless after leaving the Armed Forces. Evidence suggests that well over a thousand ex-service personnel each year require urgent support to find accommodation.

On the back of this research we developed a Call to Action to help tackle this important issue.

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Countdown is on to open 34 new homes for Veterans in Aldershot

Ed Tytherleigh, Stoll’s CEO, said: We are proud to be naming the new building Centenary Lodge as we broke ground as part of our own Centenary celebrations, as well as to commemorate the millions of lives lost in the First World War which ended 100 years ago in 1918. Our brand new development will enable some of our most vulnerable individuals who served in the Armed Forces to transition into civilian life effectively. We will provide tailored support to all our residents to ensure they can go on to lead fulfilling and independent lives.”

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Legion care home residents welcome donated pots and plants

Apta and Jersey Plants Direct donate plants and pots to The Royal British Legion’s six care homes for residents to enjoy this summer

Residents of The Royal British Legion’s six award-winning care homes, four of which include specialist dementia care wings, have taken delivery of new plants and pots donated by Apta and Jersey Plants Direct, for their enjoyment this summer.

Dunkirk Memorial House in Taunton, Galanos House in Warwickshire, Halsey House in Norfolk, Lister House in Ripon, Mais House in East Sussex, and Maurice House in Kent have all gratefully welcomed the horticultural gifts, which include glazed poppy pots, geraniums, begonias, petunias, and impatiens.

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 Anchor Vans to support Tour de Troops cyclists

Anchor Vans, the UK’s biggest commercial vehicle hypermarket, will be supporting dedicated cyclists taking part in the Tour de Troops challenge this summer.

The event, a five-day endurance test that sees participants cycling all the way from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, is taking place in aid of military charity the Felix Fund.

The Felix Fund supports the country’s brave disposal experts, the EOD community and their families.

Official sponsorship for the event comes from L3 TRL Technology, a defence cbersecurity company.

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Bridge Leisure Donation

Give Us Time is delighted to announce that Bridge Leisure has kindly donated 50 breaks to military families in need. The breaks will be throughout the year and at various locations across the UK.
These include near the Moray Firth, Scottish Borders, Yorkshire coast and Cornwall. For more information on these parks and all of their other locations please visit.
The parks have different facilities which go from indoor pools and children’s adventure playgrounds to bars, restaurants and entertainment evenings!

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Charity crew complete life raft challenge

A team of volunteers have completed a bid to live on two life rafts for 24 hours to raise money for a sailing charity.

The team’s task in Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall, started on Friday at 17:00 BST. The fundraising event was held in aid of Turn to Starboard, a charity supporting injured veterans by taking them sailing.

Organisers said volunteers were tasked with writing songs, drawing pictures and modelling dough during the fun challenge, with a support crew judging results.

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Surrey blind veteran to take on 22-mile walk along D-Day beaches for military charity

A blind veteran from Surrey is currently training to take part in a 22-mile walk along on the Normandy coastline to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day.

Chris Kennedy, 58 and from Guildford, will take part in the event alongside five other blind veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-Service men and women. The challenge will take place on 6 June, the anniversary of the 1944 Allied invasion of occupied France.

Chris says: “As soon as I heard about the event I knew I wanted to take part. I think it’s going to be a unique experience, and I very much believe that sight loss shouldn’t stop me from taking on a challenge.”

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Ex-Service personnel more likely to claim disability benefits long-term than unemployment benefits

Forces in Mind Trust (FiMT) funded research released today, Tuesday 22nd May, reveals that while nearly a quarter of ex-Service personnel receive unemployment benefit at some point after leaving the Armed Forces, most usage occurs in the period immediately after leaving and is short-term, with only 1.5% continuing to claim the support two years after serving.

The ‘Veterans and benefits’ report, by Dr Howard Burdett of King’s College London (KCL), looks at the relationships between unemployment and disability benefit usage by UK ex-Service personnel, and between social demographics, Service characteristics, mental health (ie Common Mental Disorder (CMD), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)) and alcohol misuse.

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Veterans share their experiences of military-related trauma to raise awareness of the charity that helped them

A group of veterans have shared their experiences of living with military-related trauma in a new short film for Combat Stress, the UK’s leading charity for veterans’ mental health.

The film, which features a round table discussion of four former servicemen, aims to raise awareness of military mental health and the impact that treatment and support from Combat Stress has had on the lives of the veterans.

One of those men is Colin, who joined the Army when he was 18 years old and spent his 18 years of service in Northern Ireland.

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Afghanistan support

In light of recent events in Afghanistan, please find information and support resources here