Originally Posted by Poppy

is the shop open today? I phoned to chase up my order placed on 2nd December which I have not yet received but just got an answerphone :(

I chased up on Monday and was told it would be with me yesterday but no sign yet - my brother will be Christmas present-less this year

Apologies, I didn't see this - I have nothing to do with the shop, I'm just a volunteer coordinator in London. Any general queries about the charity or the shop should be directed to the contacts on the website.

General Enquiries
Call Help for Heroes on 0845 673 1760 or 01980 846 459
info@helpforheroes.org.uk
Help for Heroes - Unit 6, Aspire Business Centre, Ordnance Road, Tidworth, Hants, SP9 7QD

Shop & Merchandise Enquiries
Call Help for Heroes Trading on 01725 513 212
Help for Heroes - 14 Parker's Close, Downton Business Centre, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP5 3RB

Even more new stuff in the shop!

https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

[hr]

January Newsletter:

Dear H4H Supporter,

A new year is always daunting as we face the challenges of the next twelve months and, with doom and gloom in the news and freezing weather, it is sometimes hard to look forward with eager anticipation. However, there is so much that is good going on that we can feel optimistic and full of determination, regardless of the snow.

It is now more than two and a half years since Emma suggested that we should ‘do something to help the wounded’. We launched Help for Heroes on 1st October 2007 with the intention of raising some money to help build a swimming pool at Headley Court. A simple appeal, but it was heard across the country and millions of people have joined us in this extraordinary effort to support our Armed Forces.

The swimming pool became a superb Rehabilitation Complex, which will be operational in April this year, but our tasks did not end there. Millions have been raised and millions spent on the direct, practical support of our wounded and at the same time.The public has openly demonstrated its support for the men and women of our Armed Forces; it has been inspirational.

As parents of a young Rifles Officer, Emma and I know what it is like to hear on the news that another soldier has been killed. Each time we hear that, we know that there will be others wounded; some with life changing injuries, some of them friends.

Visiting the badly wounded at Selly Oak and Headley Court is very hard, war is brutal and many of the injuries are horrific. A mother told me she was ‘fine’, it’s not true; her son has lost his legs, so how can she be ‘fine’? She means she is coping, grateful that he is alive and very grateful for the care he is getting but there is no getting away from the fact that his, and her life, has changed forever.

It is not fine; it is grim and we feel desperate when we have these conversations, desperate to do something to help. With H4H we are helping and there is hope. It is two and a half years since we first went to Selly Oak and we are seeing those who we first met there get back on their feet, both on prosthetics and metaphorically.

We are seeing blokes who had no hope, running, climbing, skiing and swimming, looking to the future and most importantly, smiling and laughing. We, all of us who have been a part of the H4H phenomenon share a little part of that, and we have helped put those smiles back and that gives us hope.

We understand that these dreadful injuries occur, we can’t stop that, but we can do our bit to ensure that those injured get the very best chance at a good future. The wounded boys and girls don’t want our pity, they want opportunity, they want to get on with their lives and we want to enable that.

We are working closely with the Armed Forces and other service charities and organisations to create a recovery pathway, a process where the wounded servicemen or women follow a programme that equips them with skills and opportunities for life. We will be funding the Personnel Recovery Centres and other initiatives along the pathway to give them the very best chance to launch back into the rest of their lives. They deserve the very best and we will do all in our power to ensure they get it.

Happy New Year everyone and let’s make it a real cracker!

Thank you

Bryn

[hr]

Message from a County Co-ordinator:

Sam Robinson, Co-ordinator for British Forces Germany

As I write this we are starting to focus on a frenetic year ahead here in British Forces Germany (BFG). However, I would like to reflect just briefly on how the BFG H4H team has evolved to date and, importantly, how it continues to do so.

I became the Volunteer Co-ordinator for Germany in April 2009 after a long chat with my dear friend Holly Dyer (who at the time was Bryn’s PA) and Lt Col Fred Hargreaves (he of Battleback fame!). Fred is my neighbour here in Herford and an absolute inspiration with regards all things Help for Heroes! What H4H in BFG required was a little bit of coordination – a reassuring hand on the tiller if you like. Money from across BFG was hurtling into H4H HQ but people here were a little unsure as to where to turn to for help with regards to support for their various events and fundraising activities. It was agreed that BFG would replicate the UK model of having nominated County Volunteers; but instead of counties we would have Garrisons/Stations. As I write, we now have Volunteers in the Garrison towns of Hohne, Fallingbostel, JHQ Rheindalen and Herford.

The variety of events that has taken place across BFG this year is simply extraordinary. Only today, reading our weekly Forces newspaper, Sixth Sense, there are articles about: a charity single sung by rising star 14 year old Asya Pritchard, daughter of a serving soldier; a school music concert; a Mt Everest climb; and a British Army (Germany) football match vs Bielefeld Armenia FC. Incidentally, Bielefeld Armenia FC has close links with BA(G) and has recently made a donation to H4H. Earlier in the year the A33 Anglo-German scooter club nominated H4H as their preferred charity for their fundraising activities. For H4H to receive support from German civilians is, to my mind, quite wonderful. Other events that have taken place include numerous marathons, Naafi catering competitions, merchandise stands at the Army Families Federation Conference and the Herford Bismarck Challenge, parachute jumps, boxing matches, coffee mornings, a Commanding Officer chest wax (ouch!) not to mention all the events that somehow weren’t officially registered but people were keen to get on and raise money anyway! Note to all those reading this in BFG – if you know of someone organizing a H4H event, PLEASE tell them to register it on the website!

Future events include another Naafi catering competition later in the year with a celebrity chef (this year’s hugely successful event was attended by James Martin who very generously made a large personal donation to H4H). In Gutersloh Garrison in January there is to be a H4H Fun Day which will include a football tournament played in fancy dress! In JHQ in February there is an 8 week weight loss challenge event being held, which will appeal to those of us who have overdone the Gluhwein and currywursts at the Christmas markets! Individuals need to lose a minimum of 2lb per week for the duration of the challenge. Sponsors can pay a donation or an amount per pound lost.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the H4H staff in the UK for their continued and unfailing support to us here in Germany, and to wish everyone an extremely happy, successful and safe 2010.

February Newsletter:

Dear H4H supporter,

With Valentine’s Day on February 14th, Emma and the H4H Creative team have produced a wonderful range of merchandise to allow those missing their loved ones to express their feelings. With 10,000 Servicemen and women serving in Afghanistan and many more away in other bases around the world, there are thousands of us thinking of them; so let’s tell them.

If you are related to someone or have a loved one in the Armed Forces, then on Valentine’s Day show that you are thinking of them and wear our new Loved One medal pin to show your support. Pin it on, step out and show the world that you have a loved one serving our country; show that you are proud of them.

The love that the relatives of Servicemen and women feel for their boy or girl is not a one day event. It is a declaration of solid and enduring commitment that ensures that they can get on with the fight, confident that you are back home with the family and thinking of them. In many ways it can be as hard to be the ones left behind as it is to be out there. You are a vital part of that team, you are having to share that experience, so thank you and ‘keep backing the blokes’.

To those of you who have no close connection with one of ‘the blokes’ but are still providing that wonderful support, thank you so much. We know how hard you are working on your events or your fund raising and we are so grateful, as are those who are fighting. Keep it up, spread the word, show your support, you are allowed to be proud.

Thank you all,

Bryn



[hr]

Message From A H4H County Co-ordinator:

This month, Bernice Brady, our Wiltshire County Co-ordinator, writes about her experiences so far as part of the H4H team:

I suppose it was almost inevitable that I would end up joining Help for Heroes. I am an ex-servicewoman, a Royal Air Force Auxiliary Medic, married to a serviceman and currently working at Royal Air Force Lyneham. It was here in particular that my increasing contact with injured servicemen and women and families of those being repatriated that kindled my interest in Help for Heroes and a desire to make a difference.

So since those early days in October 2008 when I joined as a Wiltshire group Co-ordinator, I have seen the organisation go from strength to strength and experienced the never ending generosity of the people of Wiltshire. Indeed I am fortunate that my role at Royal Air Force Lyneham brings me in contact with many of the servicemen and women injured on operations and I have seen first hand the difference Help for Heroes is making in areas such as Headley Court and Selly Oak.

Wiltshire in particular has a strong affinity with the organisation, based not only on the tireless work of the Hercules fleet and medical evacuation teams working out of Lyneham, but the dignified manner in which the people of Wootton Bassett conduct themselves at each and every repatriation. So at times my job is easy, and we are constantly flooded by service personnel and civilians alike, seeking to give of their best and raise money on behalf of Help for Heroes. I am continually astonished at the constant rate by which donations pour in from only a few pounds to many thousands. All in all, it is such generosity that keeps me going and spurs me on to do as much as I can for this exceptional charity.

So, as I sit here writing my ‘blog’ for the Newsletter, waiting for my husband to deploy to Afghanistan again for the third time in eighteen months, I look at what will get me through another birthday and Valentine’s day on my own? (He will do anything to save on presents!!) Well I suppose there is the charity auction coming up in Swindon soon, the talk I need to give to the ladies of the Kingsdown Golf Club, the rugby match at Bath Rugby Club and the next record attempt that the inspirational Mike Buss will undertake, as he endeavours to break 20 world records and raise over £1 million pounds by 2014. I am therefore not alone. The Help for Heroes ‘family’ continues to grow and I am privileged to meet some amazing and devoted people in my role as group co-ordinator. Thus I look forward to another successful and rewarding year, and hope that we can raise even more than we did in 2009!!

[align=center]**** £40 MILLION RAISED! ****[/align]


Dear H4H Supporter,

I am so proud of you all, everyone who has contributed to raising this absolutely staggering sum of £40m in 28 months and thank you all for your superb support. Every mountain climbed, river swum, road cycled, cake baked and all the other mad things you have done has been worth it as we are today able to see the beginning of a really comprehensive system to give our wounded the support they need and so rightly deserve.

Today we are able to grant £20m to help fund the building of four Recovery Centres in Colchester, Catterick, Tidworth and Edinburgh, where the wounded can live and learn the skills they need to make a successful future. Further to that, we are pledging to raise a further £20m to fund the courses and opportunities each individual will need. This means that the blokes will be able to choose what suits them and the H4H fund will be there to help, acting as a scholarship for their future.

We have raised £40m to date, granted £34m already and are working on the next £20m. Remember, all the money raised will go to the cause as our Help for Heroes Trading Company covers all our administration costs, so if we raise £40m, then £40m will be spent. Frankly, that is amazing!

Please pat yourselves on the backs as this really is a great moment. Servicemen and women, wounded in the service of our country, will directly benefit from the practical and direct support that £40m will provide... and you have raised it! Thank you all so much.

Now let’s raise the next £20m!

Onwards and upwards.

Bryn

March Newsletter:

Dear H4H supporter,

I wrote to you two weeks ago to break the news of the new Personnel Recovery Centres that our funding will help build in Edinburgh, Colchester, Catterick and Tidworth. We will also be announcing in March how we propose to support the Individual Recovery Plans of the Service personnel who will leave through injury. The next fundraising effort will be absolutely vital for our boys and girls if they are to get the best launch back into the next phase of their lives.

Reaching £40m in 28 months was quite literally staggering and we have been working so hard at H4H HQ and in the counties that I think it almost passed us by. We have not yet had time to celebrate or appreciate what it means. It is amazing what you have achieved and you must all take a moment to sit back and say ‘wow, £40m raised, that’s £47,000 a day, £34m granted so far; that is amazing!’ You have been, and are part of, something truly inspirational, a national movement that has literally made its mark on history. Not bad for a bunch of amateurs!

Sometimes, we are so focused, so determined, so passionate about our appeal that we might think we are the only ones involved in this battle to support the blokes, the men and women of the Armed Forces, well, we are not. Charities such as SSAFA- Forces Help have been at this for 125 years, The Royal British Legion for nearly 90, The ABF- The Soldier’s Charity for 66 and many more have been fundraising, and delivering, support to our Servicemen and women for generations and long may that continue. We may be one of the ‘new kids on the block’ but we are, and must be, part of a team if we are to deliver the very best to our blokes.

Similarly, the men and women who are being wounded today are not the only Heroes who need our support. We focus on the current wounded and I am sure that has helped bring their generation in to help support their contemporaries, their classmates, that is how it should be. This is, as all wars are, a young people’s war, they do the fighting, so it is right that young people support them. However, we must remember and keep supporting them as they become the older generation, our Veterans. Our support today must continue for their whole lives; we owe them that.

We can only achieve that long-term support for our men and women by working together seamlessly with the existing charities. If the road to recovery is a path, then all of our great Service Charities are the paving stones that fit alongside each other to help provide the support and care that our blokes need for life. It is wonderful that The Royal British Legion has committed £20m to operate the Recovery Centres for the next 10 years, that SSAFA-Forces Help provide such vital support to the families, especially at their Norton Relative’s Houses and we are delighted that ABF- The Soldiers Charity will be administering the H4H funding for the Individual Recovery Plans. We are working closely with the three Services and their charities, many of whom we have helped with funds or, like Erskine, are project partners. This is teamwork at its best and I ask you to ensure that this continues at every level. We may well be today’s ‘new kids’ but the existing charities are the ‘grown ups’ and they deserve our support and respect. Please work closely and in friendship with your local representatives of all the Service Charities. We are all part of a great team, doing a great job.

Someone said to me the other day that because H4H calls our wounded ‘Heroes’ does that mean that if you are not wounded you are not a Hero? No and lets get this straight, we consider anyone who joins the Armed Forces, knowing that they may be asked to risk their lives as part of their job, to be heroes, wounded or not. That applies to the current Servicemen and women as it does to all who have served before; you are all Heroes in our eyes and you all deserve the very best.

£40m is an extraordinary achievement but it is a marker along what needs to be a very long road. We are by no means there yet but we are part of something that is making a real difference to the lives of our wounded and we must ensure that our support, in partnership with others, continues for life.

Thank you all for what you are doing, whether you are one of the team at Tidworth or Downton, a volunteer, a fundraiser or donor, you are are all a critical part of this wonderful national show of support and affection for our Armed Forces; long may it continue.

Thank you,

Bryn



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Message From A H4H County Co-ordinator:

Pip Hughes, our County Coordinator for North Wales, writes this month’s piece on his experience of heading up a county:

Having been asked to write an article to appear in our March newsletter to you all was rather fitting as we in Wales celebrated St David’s Day on March 1st and my former Regiment, The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, are currently deployed on Operations in Afghanistan. So to all the boys serving out there “and St David’s”.

I joined the team at H4H in October 2007, coordinating Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire. That was at a time when H4H was really finding its feet but we had the enormous task of raising £8 million for a Hydro Therapy Pool at Headley Court. Luckily, I knew Bryn Parry and with him being a Welshman I joined his team.

Not many people recall the difficult days that we all endured when H4H was started. The endless hours that Bryn and Emma devoted to the charity that they had formed and the nights we all spent replying to emails and answering phone calls. We were all doing this as well as looking after our day jobs and trying to have a normal family life.

Well, those difficult early days have paid off. Today, we are part of the most successful and talked about charity in current times. That is partly due to Bryn and his team for their guidance but it is also down to all those Volunteer County Coordinators that keep the wheels on this machine turning. But let us not forget that we do this for a reason and that is to support our injured Servicemen and women that have sacrificed much more in life than any of us would ever have been asked to do.

As a former Soldier myself, being part of H4H has been one of the most rewarding things that I have had the pleasure to be involved with. Knowing that every pound raised goes to the soldiers and that the H4H shop covers our running costs is something that we can all be very proud of.

However we must also not forget those that support us and help us raise the money that we need to make Help for Heroes what it is today. Therefore to the army of wristband-wearing Help for Heroes supporters, I would like to thank you all. Keep supporting us and all our brave soldiers. Don’t stop. Enjoy the events that you organise and keep on doing them. Our soldiers haven’t stopped fighting for us so don’t stop raising money for them! We have a mountain to climb and we’re not at the summit yet!

Finally I would like to say a huge thank you to the team at Tidworth that make our lives as Volunteer Coordinators so much easier. Mark Elliott at the helm deserves great recognition for what he has done. Belinda Mitchell, my boss, for always being there when you’re in a crisis, Amanda Davies who counts in the money every day, Claire Salisbury who runs our shop and the rest of the team.

To all of you that have taken the time to read this I want to end as Simon Cowell said:

“You make me proud to be British”.

Good luck to you all and God bless.

The newsletter finally acknowledges, although very condescendingly, the other Service Charities who are fishing from the same pond as the shark like H4H. Those other Service Charities look after Veterans from all Wars and do not discriminate between young and old. They will be there when the nouveau charities have long gone. An example of their challenge is to urgently alleviate the appalling conditions of the elderly Ghurkhas, who recently moved to the UK following the actions of Joanna Lumley and now live rough around Aldershot. However their dilemma is that if they do so then other activities will not be funded owing to reduced income.

You imply that it is only young people who support H4H, wrong. It may be that the young yuppie rich support your corporate events through marketing and networking, but the middle class and elderly, who traditionally supported Service Charities, have been targeted by H4H and have switched giving to you instead of SSAFA or the Benevolent Funds.

Some 75% of the money you have raised has gone on Capital projects, which any right thinking Government and MOD should have funded . No matter what gloss you put on your efforts you are doing the Governments duty by building Medical Treatment and Recovery centres for Serving Soldiers,[/u] I emphasise Serving Soldiers.[u] The MOD do not ask Charities to build Bde HQ’s or Messes or Workshops, using your Charity to care for Serving Wounded is a further insult to those brave men and women.

Perhaps when you launched you should have used your extensive connections and networking capability to publically force Brown and cronies to fund the DMRC Swimming Pool and Gym, instead of agreeing to fund it for them. I hope that the next Government will do the honourable thing and refund the Charity Monies, you raised to fund MOD responsibilities, for the collective use of Veterans of all Wars.

Turning back to the abandoned Ghurkha Veterans, I wonder if you could give one of those old respected Charities, whose existence you condescendingly acknowledge, a generous donation to alleviate their plight. Finally I am only stating publically what thousands are saying privately, perhaps you may wish to take a deep breath and reconsider the use your fundraising is put to. My advice is to force, through embarrassment, the MOD to fund your ventures and switch your efforts to looking after the Veterans of all Wars.

http://www.arrse.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic/t=145506.html


Olen

[quote]The endless hours that Bryn and Emma devoted to the charity that they had formed and the nights we all spent replying to emails and answering phone calls. We were all doing this as well as looking after our day jobs and trying to have a normal family life.[quote/]


these would be the endless hours that they charged Help4Heroes £90,000 in consultancy fees PLUS expenses for? (source :- financial returns for Help4Heroes for the period ending 30/09/0

[quote="MittMayo"]

The endless hours that Bryn and Emma devoted to the charity that they had formed and the nights we all spent replying to emails and answering phone calls. We were all doing this as well as looking after our day jobs and trying to have a normal family life.[quote/]


these would be the endless hours that they charged Help4Heroes £90,000 in consultancy fees PLUS expenses for? (source :- financial returns for Help4Heroes for the period ending 30/09/0

I think I broke ARRSE by typing my last post, so will just say that £90,000 is a lot of money.

The Slimey One!!! How did you manage to break the site like that

Nice One :D

Originally Posted by The_Snail

I think I broke ARRSE by typing my last post, so will just say that £90,000 is a lot of money.

Think you'd better donate something like that for braking the site!