LegionLive

This Valentine’s Day meet Amanda Prowse at the signing of her book ‘Poppy Day’ in Selfridges London.  ’Poppy Day’ tells the story of army wife, Poppy, whose world is thrown into chaos when her husband is taken hostage on his first tour of Afghanistan.

The story gives an insight into life beneath the uniform, a peek at what it’s like to be the one left at home, ticking off the days until your loved one returns and what happens when there is the knock on the door that every Forces’ wife, husband, mother, father or lover dreads…

Being an army wife herself, the book is close to Amanda’s heart and she knows first-hand what it is like to have a husband serving away from home.  Amanda said; “As an army wife and mum to two teenage boys, I am always on tenterhooks while my husband is away fighting.”

All proceeds of the book are being donated to the Legion so why not treat yourself or that someone special to their very own autographed copy whilst also showing your support for injured service personnel.

Amanda will be in-store at Selfridges London on Valentine’s Day, 14^th February, from 4pm - 5pm.

The first Personnel Recovery Facility for British Forces Germany opened its doors on 1 February 2012.

The new facility at Normandy Barracks, Sennelager, will provide residential accommodation for 9 wounded, injured or sick personnel and also has capacity for a further 6 day attendees.

The location of Sennelager was chosen for this facility so that it can take advantage of the full range of facilities required for effective recovery which are already present within the well-established garrison area. This includes welfare, medical rehabilitation, education and resettlement offerings. 

Official ribbon cutting

The Royal British Legion is the major financial contributor, providing £600,000, with the Army Central Fund providing £224,000.

The facility has been named Brydon House, after William Brydon CB, an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Brydon is famous for being the only member of an army of 4,500 men to reach safety in Jalalabad at the end of the long retreat from Kabul.

 The opening was covered by BFBS TV and the report can be viewed on their YouTube channel

 

One of our newest fundraising initiatives, The Great Poppy Quiz, has a fantastic first prize this month.

Finish top of the leader board on February 29^th and you can win yourself an iPad2!

The Great Poppy Quiz has proved a popular and fun way for our supporters to make a donation to the Legion since its launch in November.

The Quiz consist of five categories: The Armed Services, The Great Pub Quiz, The Great Movie Quiz, 20^th Century Conflicts and the Great British Quiz. All profits from the Quiz will go towards the Legion’s extensive welfare work supporting serving and ex-servicemen and women and their families.

For a £5 donation you can play the Quiz as many times as you want in an attempt to get that elusive top score and your hands on first prize!

To play visit www.greatpoppyquiz.org.uk

 

The Legion's Russell Thompson meets two of the amazing Military Wives

It was one of the great success stories of 2011 and today, to celebrate reaching the half million pound mark, Gareth Malone and his Military Wives Choir presented a cheque for £503,985 to The Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help.

I was lucky enough to be at the In and Out Club in London this morning to see the enormous cheque being handed over by six of the military wives, Gareth Malone and Paul Mealor. 

The money was raised exclusively through sales of their record-breaking Christmas No.1, ‘Wherever You Are’ which has now sold a total of 684,474 copies, making it a Platinum single!

No one could have anticipated the tremendous success these women have achieved and the public support for their music. The single has broken so many records including being the fastest selling charity single since Elton John’s ‘Candle in the Wind’ in 1997.

The Legion is thrilled by this incredible achievement and so grateful for being selected as one of their chosen charities. The money will provide direct welfare assistance to the Afghan generation and their families.

But the story doesn’t end here. The Military Wives Choir have been nominated for a Brit Award and still need your votes to win ‘Best British Single’ and they will also be releasing their debut album ‘In My Dreams’ on 5^th March, just in time for Mother’s Day!

We wish them all the best for their bright future ahead!

Given the huge popularity of our Pedal to Paris ride over recent years, we have decided to bring back an old favourite - Bike to Brussels.

Described as a little gentler and flatter than P2P, Bike to Brussels is an ideal option for those who have wanted to participate in P2P but been daunted by the gruelling 460km ride.

Bike to Brussels starts with a train ride to Calais, and then 200km of glorious countryside to cycle through before arriving in Brussels 3 days later.

The first night in Belgium is spent in Ieper, where there is an opportunity to take a tour of the battlefields and cemeteries of WWI. That evening everyone on the ride will participate in the moving Last Post ceremony at the Menin Gate memorial.

All our bike rides are organised by a dedicated Legion team, who research every detail to make your ride as enjoyable as possible. The cost of the ride is £450 and then we ask for £500 sponsorship.

For more information on Bike to Brussels visit: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/support-us/poppybike 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sergeant James Shimmins with his wife and daughter

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) is working on an initiative to collect material relating to the war in Afghanistan. Their goal is to provide a unique and accurate record of Operation Herrick from the perspective of British Service Personnel and their families. 

The current exhibition ‘War Story: Serving in Afghanistan’ is an interactive display that showcases personal artefacts, videos and photographs that have been collected since the war in Afghanistan began. It allows us to discover the compelling stories from the front line and to try and understand the challenges and extreme conditions being faced in Afghanistan.

There is also a current display of over 40 portrait photographs of the service personnel who have been involved in the project; taken by the IWM Photographer Richard Ash.

Sergeant James Shimmins, 3^rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment (pictured) donated a piece of shrapnel that was pulled out of his kit after a rocket attack in Sangin.

Admission is completely free and it’s the first time most of the materials have been on public display. I highly recommend a visit!

 

Are you a regular online shopper? If so you can now donate to the Legion just by shopping online as you normally would.

‘Give as you Live’ is a simple way to donate and there is no extra cost to you as the shopper or the Legion. Amazon, Sainsbury’s, iTunes and John Lewis are just a few of the thousands of online retailers who will donate a percentage of each purchase made through ‘Give as you Live’ and, on average, 2.5% of each purchase will be donated.

So how does it work?

All you need to do is register with ‘Give as you live at www.giveasyoulive.com/royalbritishlegion, download the software and then shop as you normally would. Once you’ve don’t this your computer will remember you’ve signed up and a donation will be made to the Legion each time you shop at one of the partner websites.

It couldn’t be simpler. Happy shopping!

Royal British Legion's Jan Bamber and Alan Brockbank with Inspector Zoe Finn, Peter Shefford, and Adrienne Wakeling

Today I want to share with you the story of Peter Shefford, an ex-serviceman who is turning his life around thanks to a new programme being run by the Legion and Suffolk Police.

Peter served with the Army in Bosnia and Northern Ireland before leaving in 2000 after his the death of his parents. He fell into a life of drinking  and eventually found himself homeless and in a repeat pattern of offending. Luckily for Peter, an RBL volunteer, who worked as a detention officer at Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre, identified him as a suitable candidate for the pilot scheme.

Peter was offered assistance with finding a new home and was put in contact with other charities that help with post-traumatic stress disorder and drinking problems. Peter now has a positive focus and has enrolled in a tree surgery course and is evening running his own gardening business in Haverhill.

 Peter said; “I realised that I was no longer on my own and that there were people out there who may not be able to understand what you’ve been through, but are more than willing to help you.”

In the past six months, six detainees have been referred to the scheme for help and the programme has been so successful at Bury St Edmunds, it is also being rolled out at the Martlesham Police Investigation Centre this month.

Captain Mark Gregory with Elizabeth Hughes and RBL Chairman Alan Higbee

What better way to brighten up a gloomy Monday morning than with a great story out of Catterick about champion Legion fundraiser Captain Mark Gregory.

Captain Gregory has raised £300 for The Royal British Legion by running over 200 miles dressed in full combat gear and carrying a 50lb load! He was helped by fiancée Helen, who added to the total by baking and selling cupcakes.

Captain Gregory said; “I chose to fundraise for the Legion because of the support they provide to all three services but I also selected the Legion because of the lobbying work it carries out for Service and Ex-Service men and women and their families. I wanted the money I had raised to go to an organisation that supported the wider Armed Forces effort which indeed the Legion does.”

Elizabeth Hughes, community fundraiser for The Royal British Legion in North and East Yorkshire applauded Captain Gregory’s efforts.

She said: “We are extremely grateful to Captain Gregory for his marathon fundraising efforts. He has definitely gone the extra mile for the Legion, managing to find time for training runs and fundraising despite being busily involved in his preparations for deployment to Afghanistan.

“The funds he has donated will go straight towards helping our Armed Forces family- including today’s Afghan generation - today and for the rest of their lives.”

Captain Gregory will be leaving the UK later this month for his first tour of Afghanistan and we wish all the very best and hope to see him back home safe!

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, described on www.hmd.org.uk , the official Holocaust Memorial Day Trust website, as ‘an opportunity for everyone to learn lessons from the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and subsequent genocides and apply them to the present day to create a safer, better future.’

The following passage is taken from the Holocaust section of the Legion’s Learning pack which can be accessed in full here: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/schools-and-learning/learning-pack

On 15 April 1945, British Forces liberated a concentration camp in Germany called Bergen-Belsen. The scenes there were terrible - British Forces found 60,000 people in the camp, as well as 13,000 unburied corpses. Despite medical attention, nearly 14,000 of those liberated died in the following three months. The arriving British Forces included men who had fought in battles across North Africa and Western Europe but many found the scenes at the camp far worse than any battle they had experienced. Bergen- Belsen, along with the other camps, became a symbol of what humans can do as a result of ideology and hatred. 

The Holocaust Remembrance Day Trust stress that today is not simply about remembering the past but also looking forward and recognising that discrimination in any form should be prevented.

For more information on the work of the Holocaust Remembrance Day Trust visit their website www.hmd.org.uk