Pioneering bid to help wounded troops into jobs

Rotary District 1040, which is comprised of 79 clubs across North and West Yorkshire, has set up the scheme in partnership with a new multi-million pound recovery facility in Catterick Garrison, to give veterans work experience or act as mentors if they want to set up a business.

The Rotarians decided to push ahead with the pilot project after being made aware of the work ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity does and its future funding pressures as it struggles to meet a soaring rise in demand from soldiers and their families in need of help.

The assistant governor of the Rotary District, Hazel Haas, said there is already a queue of soldiers at the Catterick recovery facility – which opened as an interim centre earlier this month – waiting to take advantage of the scheme.

“Immediately we have people waiting for help,” she said.

“We cannot magic up jobs for soldiers out of nothing but we can do our bit to try and provide them with work placements and with experience.

“We want to get involved in giving additional help to the recovery centre, whether it is inviting them to come along to a meeting or by giving practical advice in terms of mentoring somebody who wants to set up a business.

“We have not done anything on this scale with the Armed Forces before. We feel that anything comparatively we can do to help, we really should. It is an obligation that many of us feel. Because it is a pilot project we have advanced quite carefully with this every step of the way.

“But we are very hopeful that other districts will take it up and that this could be replicated across the country.”

The move follows “advanced” discussions between the North York Moors National Park Authority (NYMNPA) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over a scheme to provide sick, injured and wounded servicemen and women with a host of work experience opportunities in the national park to help them gain vital qualifications and re-adjust to civilian life.

A prospectus is currently being drawn up to detail the opportunities available, ranging from conservation work to estate management to IT services, with the scheme set to be implemented before the end of the year

Rotary District 1040 has also undertaken a widespread fundraising campaign in aid of ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity, raising several thousands of pounds already in aid of the charity, which in the past year has seen a 50 per cent leap in the number of Army families seeking its help, alongside a rocketing number of individual cases.

A fundraising concert at York Barbican is planned on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend next year, with all proceeds going towards the charity.

The Yorkshire Post has launched its Christmas charity auction this year in aid of ABF – The Soldiers’ Charity.

The second week of bidding comes to an end on Friday.

Among the pick of this week’s lots is a specially-crafted Christmas 36-pint oak cask of Theakston’s legendary Old Peculier beer and lunch for two at the White Bear Hotel in Masham followed by a personal guided tour of the brewery with tutored tastings by managing director Simon Theakston.

Readers can also bid for a champagne afternoon tea for two at Goldsborough Hall, near Harrogate, which was once the family home of HRH Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles in the 1920s.

Another exclusive prize on offer this week is two tickets to ride the footplate on a steam locomotive on the five-mile Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, where The Railway Children was filmed in 1971.

The prize includes a behind the scenes tour of the railway, and a chance to see inside the workshops.

Ten new lots will be announced every Saturday until December 10. To bid, click the link at the top of every page on the Yorkshire Post website.