Thread: Norton House (Ashtead) wins charity award

Celebrations for two Mole Valley charities

June 15, 2009

TWO Mole Valley charities have beaten off stiff competition to land awards for their work in the disability and environment sectors.

SSAFA Forces Help, which set up a 'home from home' in Ashtead for the families of injured soldiers recovering at Headley Court, and BCTV, which was founded on land at Box Hill 50 years ago, were given Charity Awards at a star-studded ceremony last Thursday night.

Norton House, in Grays Lane, was set up in 2008 by SSAFA Forces Help for the families of wounded servicemen and women to stay at while visiting the military rehabilitation centre near Leatherhead.

In its bid to get the home up and running, the charity was faced by what was labelled as “nimbyism� from 80 locals, who initially opposed the home because they were concerned about security threats and falling house prices.

But the hard work paid off as the charity’s chief executive, Major General Andrew Cumming, picked up the highly-regarded Charity Award for the Disability category at the ceremony in Battersea, south London.

Judges praised SSAFA Forces Help for the speed and efficiency with which it worked to purchase and refurbish Norton House, named after Captain Peter Norton, a serviceman who suffered appalling injuries in Iraq and whose family inspired the project plus a similar one near Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham.

More than 200 people have stayed at Norton House since February 2008, while Selly Oak was put to immediate use on the day it opened earlier this year and has continued to help families of servicemen and women in the Armed Forces since then.

web source: Celebrations for two Mole Valley charities - photograph

A great show! Well done to all concerned.

Why did a charity have to do this? Of course, silly me, this disreputable government has no interest in the welfare of injured soldiers. It finds wounded men and women embarrassing. They draw attention to the crazed adventurism of the grinning spiv Bliar and to the wilful and spiteful underfunding of the military by the discredited monocular oaf who was Chancellor at the time.

Great to see that the initial rush of success was followed up. The people who were involved in this at all stages can hold their heads up high.

Even Sven.