Poppies To Paddington has been created by The Veterans Charity (VC) and is being made possible thanks to great support from Great Western Railway (GWR).
On 11th November, around 150 poppy wreaths arrived at Paddington from all across the GWR network. GWR made 10 trains available including the Harry Billinge MBE which travelled from Cornwall carrying a wreath that Harry himself had delivered. More than 60 stations were involved for this special project and serving military personnel, volunteers and Veterans as well as representatives from numerous organisations, helped us to honour the fallen in a unique and safe way.
GWR hosted a live broadcast of a very special Rmembrance Ceremony on Platform 1, shortly after all the wreaths had been placed at the base of the Paddington Station memorial.
We are extremely proud to see how well #PoppiesToPaddington has been received and supported by so many and we send our sincerest thanks to everyone involved, especially GWR.
#PoppiesToPaddington
Be A Christmas Hero and help us to deliver Christmas for those in dire hardship!
Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused worldwide hardship and distress. Throughout this time, we have continued to deliver vital support to Veterans and their families including food shopping, essential household products and toiletries, utilities credit, clothing and smartphones to enable continued communication and to prevent isolation.
We have responded to hundreds of referrals from other organisations who have been unable to continue to provide support themselves during lockdown and in total, we have supported more than 400 cases since the beginning of March.
The demand is continuing to rise and we expect it to go on rising as the economic impact of the pandemic hits our economy even further.
As our rapid support is #nevermoreneeded we need YOUR support more than ever before!
Sadly, we lost all public fundraising opportunities for almost 6 months and have been forced to postpone our key events until 2021 at the earliest. This means that our income will be drastically reduced and that donations are crucial to enable us to continue to meet the immediate needs of so many Veterans and their families.
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£25 will pay for a tasty pizza delivery for a family who are struggling to make ends meet and have no food. This is a common scenario that we encounter but we arrange for an almost immediate delivery of a hot and tasty meal to sustain them until a supermarket delivery can be made the next day.
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£85 will buy a brand new smartphone which will enable a Veteran to maintain vital communications with family, friends, support networks and even help with employment searches and online courses/self help.
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£125 will provide a very comprehensive food shopping delivery complete with toiletries and household products and even pet foods where required, for a Veteran and their family who are facing dire hardship.
Make a huge difference today
We are excited to announce our brand new VC Lottery!
Tickets are just £1 per week and the top prize is a massive £25,000!
The Veterans Charity will receive 50% of the ticket price with 24% of the remaining amount going into the prize funds, 16% covering administration costs (transaction fees, insurance, hosting costs, booking fees etc) and 4% covering VAT.
Unveiled on 6th June 2009 as part of our commemorations of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, our memorial was paid for by funds raised on 'Project 65', a special challenge run created and hosted by The Veterans Charity which followed the route taken by Horsa Gliders on D-Day to reach their objectives of Horsa and Pegasus Bridges in Normandy. Click on the images below to see more.
Back for the TENTH time, The Forces March 2021 is being held from Wednesday 26th May to Sunday 30th May.
Follow in the footsteps of WW2 heroes along the route of a legendary 1942 training march from Ilfracombe to Bulford over 5 consecutive days.
Teams and individuals are invited to enter as walkers, runners or even as a relay team, splitting each day into sections.
See the video of how our new VCHQ was transformed during July into a great, accessible space which will enable us to run new support initiatives and even a VC Shop!
BRAND NEW IN OUR VC SHOP!
