Help for Heroes - Support for our Wounded

This is the first ‘despatch’ from a new organisation established to provide direct help to our soldiers, sailors and airmen who have been wounded in one of Britain’s current theatres of operation.

Although I am now a cartoonist, I was an army officer for ten years and know the true meaning of the newspaper headline; ‘One killed, four wounded, two critically’. However, nothing in my experience came close to what our servicemen and women are facing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Scores of casualties face long periods of recovery; some will have to cope with the consequences of their injuries for the rest of their lives. The very least we can do is make that process as easy as possible.

We met with the head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannett, to discuss how best to provide the practical support needed by those who have suffered in the current conflicts in our name. As a result of that meeting, and with his personal support, Help for Heroes was formed to raise money to support our wounded in their long battles towards rehabilitation and with rebuilding their lives. The money raised will enable our service charities to provide facilities which are today beyond their means.

Help for Heroes is strictly non-political, and takes no position on the rights or wrongs of British military involvement. We only know that, just as there is a time when we need our servicemen, so there is a time when they need us.  That time is now.  We want to help the men and women who have become casualties in the line of duty.  Help for Heroes will mobilize, guide and channel all the goodwill that I am convinced millions of people in the UK share with me.

My personal goal is to meet an initial target of £5m to be used to help provide urgently needed specialist facilities at the tri-service rehabilitation centre, Headley Court. Naturally, our great hope is that others, working under the banner of this appeal, will raise or donate additional and much needed cash to far exceed this amount. We will ensure that whatever sum eventually raised will be put to immediate and appropriate use.

Fund raising for Help for Heroes has already begun.  Plans are underway for a signature event called The Big Battlefield Bike Ride. I am going to recruit and lead 300 volunteers to cross from Portsmouth to Normandy, and then ride through the battlefields of Normandy, Picardy and Somme before finishing in London on Sunday 1st June 2008.  It will be a physically challenging but achievable ride, designed to link in the public mind Britain’s historic battlefields with those of today, and to raise awareness of the needs of our wounded.  Each rider will become a fundraiser, assured and inspired in the knowledge that every effort expended in meeting the challenge will directly benefit our casualties.

We are also planning a Help for Heroes Action Week, with dates to be confirmed.  The public will be asked to support our servicemen in any way they choose: sponsored walks, runs, swims, parachute jumps, dinners, balls, auctions; events limited only by your
Imagination.

Help for Heroes will go live on 1st October 2007. We need your help, your participation and of course, your donations. Please help us to spread the word by telling your friends about the appeal and help support our heroes.

Thanks

Bryn Parry

Appeal Chairman

Help for Heroes