2008 Noticeboard Archive

December 2008

Final Thank Yous of 2008

Our very sincere thanks go to the following for their kind support to our servicemen and women be this through donations, messages of support, hand made cads or get well cards for the sick and injured -

Donations from - Gina Fryer, Maxwell Muir, Paul Murphy, Cliff Allen, Andrew Beacham, Joyce Johnson, Jay Visick, Susan Poole, Hilary Crewe, Lynsey Prosser, Carlotta Bourne-Packman, Kenneth Holloway, James Garrigan, Jason Neilus, Christine Chaplin on behalf of the Falmouth Hotel, Cornwall, Helen Jones, Kenny Connolly, Sally Jane Cowell, Eugenie Bartlett, John Coleman, Jonathan Boddy, Beryl Kingsbury, David Anley, Jean Thornton, Kay Kitteridge, Jennifer Bridgwater, Michelle Richards, Dorothy Brodie, Judith Stewart, Robert Hayes, Colin Thomas, Peter Sweeney, Martin Chatwin, Deborah Lyne, Kathryn Baker, Marie McDaid, Jo Baillie.

BLESMA Appeal Donations from - Angela Laurie, Aaron Rudd, Margaret Welstead, J A Halls, James Garrigan, Kath Clements, Linda Reeder, Keir Wingrove.

Hand Made Xmas Cards From - Jenny Hannah, Christine Jay, J A Halls.

Hand Made Cards From - Joyce Royle  

Get Well Cards From - Linda Thomas, Avril Heneke, Julie Skinner, Yvonne in Northern Ireland, Large batch all individually signed - unknown source, Vicky LeFerre, Jeanette & Family Solihull, Members of Prescot Community Church, Mrs I Bibby, Eyin aged 9, Connor aged 11, Rachel Hammond, Eugenie Bartlett, Gemma Harrop, Amy Gibbons, Sophie Howard-Williams, Liz Roberts, The Preston Family, Sheffield, Stella & Don.

Xmas Messages From - Pupils at The Cotswold School, Cheltenham,  Carlotta Bourne-Packman, H Greenwood.  

Messages of Support from - Lorna Iveson, Heather Greenwald.  

Cool Ties from - Pauline Worstall, Judith Williams.

Special mentions must be given to Sanquhar Academy S6 Group who held a charity day in aid of SOS. For the day pupils were encouraged to come to school dressed in camouflage/army clothing and they also held a design a soldier competition, penalty shootout and shooting hoops comp.  The day was a success and raised the sum of £225.  Special thanks to Shelley Clark head girl, and Wallace Brown head boy.   Also to Ann and Ken Dodgson who held a coffee morning on the 1st November and raised £356 including £100 donation from Councillor Terry Grayshon.

25th December 2008 - A Christmas Candle of Hope

Candles were lit across the UK and beyond on Christmas Day in recognition of our brave Servicemen and women, and their families.

Pictures from Iraq

Tony, our SOS man in the sand pit, has very kindly sent through the following pictures from his base in Iraq.

Press Coverage

Lighting a candle for our troops
Hundreds of people in Leicestershire – including families and friends of troops abroad – will join in the Support our Soldiers campaign. Members of the charity in the county are appealing for people to light candles in their homes to ...

Story shorts - 24/12/08 - Lancashire Evening Post
The charity Support Our Soldiers is appealing for people to light a candle on Christmas Day to commend the bravery of servicemen and women and their families. The Preston Branch this year collected 130 parcels to sent to troops in Iraq, ...

20th December 2008 - Farringdon Club Fundraising Evening

Many thanks to Joyce and Phil who raised a wonderful £211.50 through the sales of unsuitable parcel items.  And of courese thank you too to everyone who supported them on the evening.  Apparently a great night was had by all!

17th December 2008 - Carol Concert, Bromsgrove

Maria held a carol concert in Bromsgrove on Wednesday 17th December to honour our Servicemen and women.  Parcel fillers which had been collected by Bromsgrove District Council were also handed over. The picture shows PTE Thomas Moody, Sharon Chaplain - carol concert organiser, Chairman of Bromsgrove Council Caroline Spencer, Leading Naval Nurse Anna Day and L/Cpl Philip Pimlott.

16th December 2008 - The Millies

It was an absolute honour to be invited to attend the Millies on behalf of Support Our Soldiers.  It was an amazing experience - heartwarming and heartbreaking too. To be there amongst so many of our brave heroes, words really can't express how humbling that felt.  I was introduced to David Cameron, Andy McNabb, Jeremy Clarkson, Frank Lampard, John Terry, and of course Ross Kemp!  Andy, Jeremy and Ross all spoke very highly of SOS and Jeremy in particular was very kind. But whilst it was fantastic to meet the celebs, it was even better meeting the heroes themselves. A special mention has to go the lads from 2 Para who were seated on the table next to us. They went through so much during their recent tour, and for a couple of the boys the night obviously brought back painful memories. To a standing ovation and led by Tom, they shared the top award and I don't think there was a dry eye in the house.  Christine Bonner too, what a brave, brave lady she is. Everyone's heart went out to her as she accepted her award and paid tribute to all the families who have lost loved ones.  There were so many other things that happened during the evening, but it really is difficult to put the emotions we all went through into words. The one thing that was clear throughout was the immense pride in our Armed Forces and that was wonderful to see.  Very appropriate that I was seated with members of 88 Postal and Courier Regiment, and thank you to all of them for making me so welcome.  And sincere thanks too to Patrick O'Neill, Head of Publicity for Royal Mail who provided the hospitality.

12th December 2008 - Sainsbury's Local Heroes

We're delighted to have received support through the Sainsbury's Local Heroes scheme on two occasions recently. The first match came from our very own Maureen in Guildford who raised £300 by collecting at her local store.  The second came from Maureen Jobson, from Sainsbury's in Fosse Park who raised £200.  Our sincere thanks to both Maureens for their hard work, and to Sainsbury's too for their marvellous support. Pictures show Maureen Jobson and Amanda our SOS representative for Leicester, being presented with the cheque by Fosse Park Store Manager Ian Partridge.

November 2008

29th November 2008 - SOS Christmas Raffle, Toby Inn, North Shields

Kim in Newcastle-upon-Tyne would like to say - "Big thanks to the following for donating prizes to enable me to hold my raffle :-

Jonathan Seed – The Toby, Premier Inn North Shields, Halfords- Kingston Park, John Donoghue, P.C.World Kingston Park,  Robinson’s Florist-West Road, Paintballing U.K., Jean Bullivants Florist-West Road, In-Store – Kingston Park, Jill Maguire -Bridal at Lydia ,Ringtons, Pauline Ingleby, Valerie Healey, Caroline Timmons.

I would also like to say thank-you to the people that helped me sell tickets before the draw - Brady Scott at A.A. Newcastle Business Park, Laura Maguire at National Express Newcastle, Pauline Ingleby,  Dean Driver and Sarah .

Thank you once again to Jonathan Seed for being so supportive and allowing me to hold the S.O.S. Christmas Raffle at The Toby, not forgetting a big thank you to everyone that showed their support when buying a ticket or two. Amount raised.......£425.60!"

New PR Team for SOS!

Irene's husband Johnny took this wonderful picture at Craigie woods in Ayr and adapted it for SOS. (Tempted with peanut butter and birdseed!)

Adopt a FOB Update

Earlier this year we joined Capt Rachel Webster in her Adopt a FOB campaign.  SOS sent money out so that fridges could be bought for each of the seven FOBS, and also power monkeys and other goodies.  Rachel's now returned to the UK and has very kindly given us permission to show the following photos.  Sure you'll recognise a couple of people in them, or maybe not!!

Rebecca SOS Stars in Easy Living Mag

15th November - Yorkshire (North and West) B Coy Cadets Pack and Wrap

Rebecca would like to say a big thank you to the Yorkshire (North and West) B Coy Cadets who held a pack and wrap at the weekend.  They managed to put together 67 boxes which the cadets of Fulford detachment have offered to wrap.

11th November - BAE's Presentation of Xmas Parcels to SOS

Soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment joined Kale and Val at BAE Systems to represent the Armed Forces during the presentation to SOS of Christmas parcels. Val; Brian’s wife co-ordinated the event within the area she works in and Kale co-ordinated support from around the site.  They invited the soldiers to take part in the presentationto represent the brave men and women SOS are supporting. The response as usual has been wonderful and employees at BAE are very keen to show their support for this worthy cause. Our very sincere thanks to Kale and Val for organising this, and to everyone who contributed so generously.

In the Papers...

In Memoriam; 11/11/11
Sky News - UK
... in two wars, and due to the media campaign waged by organizations such as Support Our Soldiers, and the heavy hitting Help For Heroes. support war. ...

Social clubs sends festive cheer to soldiers
Shields Gazette - South Shields,England,UK
Campaign organiser Tony Brown again teamed up with the Support Our Soldiers (SOS) charity to transport the boxes overseas. Joyce Walker, of SOS, ...

SOS for our services - bring goods into Standard offices
Redditch Standard - Redditch,Worcestershire,UK
... Redditch, and the one in Bromsgrove, at 44 High Street, are taking the festive parcels as part of this year's Support Our Soldiers (SOS) campaign. ...

Pile them high - Huge response to Falkirk Herald campaign
Falkirk Herald - Falkirk,Scotland,UK
From schoolchildren to pensioners, church congregations to workplaces, people got behind the campaign linked to the charity Support Our Soldiers (SOS). ...

Sports reporter raises thousands in New York Marathon
HoldTheFrontPage.co.uk - UK
Kilmarnock Standard photographer Amanda Leggat is hoping to raise over £2000 for the Support Our Soldiers appeal. Amanda puts images she's taken onto ...

13th November - Collection at Morrisons, Penzance

Sue and her team would like to thank everyone at Morrisons in Penzance who gave so generously to the collection.  £221.11 was raised plus six trolley loads of items!

8th November - Charity Fair, Midhurst

Hilary would like to thank everyone who helped make the fair such a success.  Thanks to peoples generosity £81.50 was raised on the day.

Mufti Day - Kings International College, Camberley

Sincere thanks too go to the staff and pupils who chose SOS as their Mufti charity this term.  Each child paid £1 and an amazing £600 was raised!  Thank you to Hilary's daughter who's Head of PE at the school for organising this.

1st November - Festival of Remembrance, Bradford

We were delighted to be invited to take part in the Festival of Remembrance at St Georges Hall, Bradford to represent the families of those currently serving overseas. What a wonderful SOS turnout - Lynn, Kaitelyn, Karen B,Jo and Andy came over from Leeds.  Myself, Kat, Becky, Sammi and Judith formed the Bingley contingent! Lou C and Paul travelled all the way down from Helensburgh, Joyce and Phil made the journey down from Sunderland, and Becki from Plymouth!  We were honoured to follow the standard bearers on to the stage where we remained whilst the Remembrance service took place.  It was a very emotional evening as you can imagine, particularly during the two minute silence when the poppies came down. It was lovely that so many of the SOS team could take part, and sincere thanks to the organisers for inviting us.  We were very proud indeed to be there.

October 2008

Collection Somerfields, Rugeley

Our sincere thanks to Rob Risker of Somerfields in Rugeley who let SOS and Rugeley Conservative club have a collection point in their Springfileds store.  The residents of Rugeley have been so generous and donated many lovely and much appreciated items to help our troops. Somerfields is just one of the collection points in this area, there are two other boxes one in Aldi and one in Brewery Street indoor market.  Pauline.

Recognition for UK civilian nurses in action in Afghanistan and Iraq

The unique contribution of civilian nurses who have served and continue to serve with the Ministry of Defence in operational deployment overseas was recognised this week when fifteen nurses and a neurosurgeon received campaign medals for their services in Afghanistan and Iraq. http://www.frontiermedical.co.uk/recognition-for-uk-civilian-nurses.html

Xmas Parcel Appeal in the Press

http://www.piratefm102.co.uk/

York volunteers send home thought for abroad
The Press, York - York,North Yorkshire,UK
Support Our Soldiers, a charity set up in March 2003 by the mothers of soldiers sent to Iraq, does just that. Cherrill Frensham, of Woodthorpe, ...

Boxing clever for our troops
Bromsgrove Standard - UK
RESIDENTS across Bromsgrove are being urged to contribute to this year’s Support Our Soldiers Christmas shoebox appeal. Those wanting to help can either ...

Troops sent Christmas cheer
Bradford Telegraph Argus - Bradford,England,UK
Karen Webster launched her sixth Support Our Soldiers Christmas Appeal this week by appealing for gifts and cash donations. Her son is a former member of ...

Public prepared to put doubts aside and pay tribute to all who ...
Times Online - UK
One local pub is collecting gifts for a Support our Soldiers appeal while another raises money for a Peterborough Supports Heroes campaign. ...

A Song in Memory of our Fallen Heroes

Rod Stordy from Canada has released a special song to radio across canada called HE DIED FOR LOVE.  It's in the memory of our fallen troops. Rod lost his brother in law during the conflict and a percentage of the cd sales will go to the Support our Troops fund.  You can check out his website www.rodstordy.com and www.myspace.com/oldtoadgil  You'll also find there cds of different artist songs to be given out to troops in hospitals around the world.

27th October - Homecoming Parade, Ayr

WELCOME HOME TROOPS
Ayr Advertiser - Ayr,Scotland,UK
Grandmother and Support Our Soldiers fundraiser Pat Ethells was out selling the SOS ribbons and proudly watching her grandson Callum Brown during the Home ...

25th October - Asda Pack and Wrap, Truro

Marie had a great day at Asda where she collected two trolley loads of shopping and £313.54 in donations.  She'd like to thank staff and customers at Asda for their kindness and generosity.

25th October - Fancy Dress Party, Glenfield, Leicester

Many thanks to Rachael for all her hard work in organising this event.  This is her report - 'The party was alot of fun, everyone made such an effort with their
costumes and had a good night. We did not have as many people as we
would have liked but still we managed to spread the word about SOS and
raise some money in the process. Amanda did a quick talk to the room
after the raffle was drawn and lots of people now know about SOS so the
night was worth it for that alone! The bar staff were brilliant everytime someone offered to buy them a drink they asked if they could put the money in the collection tin instead which was fab. A grand total of £87 was raised.'

Adopt A FOB Update

First of all we'd like to say a huge welcome home to Capt Rachel Webster who has now completed her tour of Afghanistan and is safely back in the UK.  Some months ago, Rachel came up with the idea for the amazing Adopt A FOB campaign, and asked for our help.  We were of course delighted to be involved and through the very kind donations made to SOS, sent monies to purchase a fridge for each of the FOBs, solar monkeys, and lots of other much needed items. On her return Rachel sent the following message -

"I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a difference all the parcels made to the soldiers at the FOBs, it truely helped... The donation from SoS bought much deserved fridges and fans which the guys from 2 Para were really grateful for.  I believe the Marines are now getting the use out of the Power Monkeys and the rest of the items bought. Everyone at SoS are truely remarkable and give openly, without question! If only there was more kindness in this world!  Thank you for making me a small part of it and I hope I can help again! Thank you for helping me with 'Adopt a FOB' - it made my time in Afghanistan worth while . Rachel"

We'd like to offer our very grateful thanks to everyone who helped with the campaign, and special thanks to our a/cs who as always, embraced the Appeal and did their very best for the boys and girls out in Afghan.  Well done to you all!  Hopefully we'll have some pictures to add shortly...!

24th October - SOS Collection at Morrisons, Thornton Cleveleys

Mel had a great day at Morrisons and raised the grand sum of £191. She'd like to thank the staff at Morrisons for all their help and to offer special thanks to the customers for their kind and very generous donations.

18th October - Faslane Families Day

Louise had a great day on Saturday with lots of people showing interest in donating parcel fillers and making up cool ties for next spring. £92 was taken in merchandise sales and £6.64 in donations.  

Recent Press Coverage

Club sends troops some festive cheer
Shields Gazette - South Shields,England,UK
Campaign organiser Tony Brown has once more teamed up with the Support Our Soldiers (SOS) charity to transport the boxes overseas. Donations can be dropped off at...

We salute real local hero
Carluke Gazette - Carluke,England,UK
With the co-operation of the charity Support our Soldiers Christmas parcel appeal — fully sanctioned by the Ministry of Defence — we will ensure each and ...

Picture from Iraq

This picture was sent through from the team at 11 Armoured Coy in Iraq who we've kept in very close contact with during their tour. The team have been a great help with distributing parcels and making sure that they reach those who don't receive a great deal of mail. The tshirts that the guys are wearing were part of a batch very kindly donated by Bodyshop Services in Preston.

Kim, Chris & Mike on Mon TV

Our sincere thanks to Pastor Jim Davies and everyone at Mon TV who this week ran a feature on Support Our Soldiers.  You can watch the video via the following link Mon TV - SOS Feature

In the Papers...

Residents and service users team up to collect gifts for soldiers ...
The Star - Sheffield,England,UK
The filled boxes will be given to soldiers as part of the Support our Soldiers Christmas Parcel Appeal 2008. Residents at Milton Court are mental health ...

Green light for troops’ Christmas shoeboxes
Bromsgrove Standard - UK
The next fund-raising event to be held by Support Our Soldiers will be a Party and Ploughman’s lunch at the DDS and S Club, Stourbridge Road, on November 14 ...

Show our troops how much you care
Falkirk Herald - Falkirk,Scotland,UK
In addition, we are backing the MOD–sanctioned Christmas parcel appeal run by the charity Support Our Soldiers ... to help bring a bit However, ...

Herald launches Heroes campaign
Kirkintilloch Today - Kirkintilloch,Scotland,UK
In addition, we are backing the MOD-sanctioned Christmas parcel appeal run by the charity Support Our Soldiers ... to help bring a bit of Christmas cheer to ...

Heroic effort required
Lanark Today - Lanarkshire,UK
All of the goods donated to Remember our Heroes: Past and Present from all of our titles will be parcelled up by Support our Soldiers and sent to our troops ...

Lenzie soldier backs Herald campaign
Kirkintilloch Today - Kirkintilloch,Scotland,UK
The campaign is being run in conjunction with the Support Our Soldiers charity. The charity's Christmas parcel appeal is the ONLY parcel appeal officially ...

7th October - 137 Sqdn ATC Prestwick Brew up!

Once again 137 Sqdn ATC gave a big hand to Agnes and assembled hundreds of brew bags in preparation for the Xmas parcels, ably helped by WO Alan McConnachie and Irene Boyle.

John Knox Church

Our sincere thanks to Betty Watson and members of John Knox Church who very kindly presented to Agnes with a donation of £20 and lots of parcel fillers.

5th October - QARANC 'Turning of the Pages' service at All Saints Garrison Cathedral in Aldershot

Mary's son David and his girlfriend Sacha were proud to be involved in the QARANC Turning of the Pages Service in Aldershot. This is an annual event commemorating all past QARANC nurses.

5th October - Service at Exeter Cathedral

Report from Becki - Almost 400 people attend our service of thanksgiving at Exeter Cathedral yesterday afternoon. It was a heartwarming service and we were touched by how many people came along to show their support for our brave lads and lassies. Sincere thanks must go to the following: The Canon Precentor, Carl Turner, for a beautiful service, Father Martyn Gough of Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, for the most heartfelt and moving of addresses, the staff and choir of Exeter Cathedral, Exmouth Sea Cadets, Exmouth Town Concert Band, all of the civil dignigtaries for atending, these included the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of devon, the Lord and Lady Mayoress of Exeter and of Plymouth. Also huge thanks to our own Peter Bond whose hard work and effort to put the whole thing together, as well as another service the previous day in Newquay, paid off incredibly.

Service at cathedral shows troops county backing their efforts
Express & Echo - Exeter,England,UK
The service, yesterday afternoon, was organised by charity Support Our Soldiers (SOS) and attended by civic leaders and the families of troops. ...

Band's farewell lament

Exmouth Journal - UK
EXMOUTH'S 45-piece Town Concert Band will be playing at a service organised by Support Our Soldiers at Exeter Cathedral. The service aims to boost support ...

4th October - Service at St Columb Minor, Newquay

Peter and Sue, our representatives from Devon and Cornwall would like to express their thanks to everyone who attended the service in recognition of members of our Armed Forces at St Columb Minor Church on Friday. Honoured guests included the CO of RAF Portreath, the Mayor and Mayoress of Newquay and the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Lady mary Holborrow. RAF Cadets also kindly attended.  A collection during the service raised £85, and the church has offered to hold further collections during the year.

Friday 3rd October - Easy Living Magazine Article

Rebecca and little Alfie were invited to take part in an article for Easy Living magazine explaining what life was like for Forces families and how fears and concerns could be expressed through writings.  The article is due for release in the December issue.  Whilst there, they went to see the Guards and when Rebecca told them she was from SOS her and Alfie were given a guided tour around the stables! What a kind thought, and perhaps some of the photos should be used for next Army recruiting ads too!

Friday 3rd October - Helensburgh Pub Crawl

Louise would like to extend her thanks to everyone who took part in the pub crawl on Friday.  A couple of the pubs were particularly welcoming, the staff in The Station Bar emptied their tip jar into the collection and June, the landlady in The Ashton bought all the team a drink and rang the bell to announce them and encourage people to dig deep, as well as making a personal donation.  She is also going to keep a collecting bucket on the bar from later in the month.  A grand total of £503.24 was raised!  Many thanks to Louise for organising this together with her friend Sophia, and to everyone who took part or contributed in any way.

September 2008

Our Thanks...

Our very sincere thanks go to the following individuals and organisations for their very kind support over the past few weeks -

Beautiful hand made cards received from Brenda Bishop, Olive Prewer, Ellen Robbins, Debbie Robinson and Jean Symon.

Get Well cards received from Ann Jacobs, Margaret Summers, Mr & Mrs J Smith, Sue Willis, Debbie Miller-Robinson (Proud mum of an RAF girl serving in Iraq), Jess Wright, Christine Coxon, Jo A, Michael & Betty Hakes, Mrs J Diment, Natalie Lammert, June Brown, Rachel Hammond, Sue Stairs, Julie Skinner, Margaret & Ron Eastwood and The Luscombe family in Plymouth.

Donations received from Mrs Judith Riley in memory of her late husband Paul Francis Riley, Mr J C Aldridge, Major (Retired) CH A Plaistow, HQ York Garrison, Imphal Barracks, Year 10 pupils at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni, Ochiba Business Solutions, Jacki Lyons, Caroline Jones, Lisa Walker, Jo Sellars, John Gallagher, Jörn Barth, Bill Roberts, Jeremy Condliffe, Frank Elwick, Joyce Johnson, Christian O'Connell, Kate Roberts, Mike Sutherland, Anne-Marie Cunliffe and Eleanor Barber.

Parcels received from Gerry & Val Costello, John & Val Coulson, Rushmore ACF Detachment, Patrick & Eileen Starrs, Jeremy Byers, Angela Myers, Lisa Craig & Family Scoman, Susan Hickey & Andrew Chinappa, Jean Tolworthy, Rachel Hammond, Bill Bell, Brian & Anastacia Drummond, Julie Seginer, Avril in Maidstone, Catherine McKay, Cilla, Paul & Stennie and Georgia & Katie of Wolviston School.

Wonderful support for our boys and girls as you can see and we, and they, are very appreciative of this.

30th September - Collection at Tesco, Lee Mill, Devon

Peter would like to offer his sincere thanks to staff and customers at Tesco Stores, Lee Mill, Ivybridge, Devon who contributed to the collection and raised the wonderful sum of £623.

29th September - Prestwick ATC Project Night

On Monday Agnes visited the Prestwick ATC cadets who assisted with the wrapping of loads of small personal pressies for inclusion in the Christmas Parcels. Some of the cadets also wrote blueys for the lads and lassies,. Under the direction of Warrant Officer Alan McConnachie, the cadets have become active and enthusiastic volunteers for the SoS campaigns.  They will be organising their own collectiion and pack and wrap night as well as  assisting with the collection point at The Kyle Centre in Ayr and Street Collection on 25th October.  Well done the young lads and lassies of 137 Sqdn ATC Prestwick!

Simonside Social Club - A Man (and woman!) on a Mission!

Earlier this year Tony and his wife Babz very kindly handed over to Joyce in Sunderland lots of parcel fillers which they'd encouraged their members to collect.  And they haven't stopped there!  Regulars have been so generous that a special store has been set up, not to sell goodies but to collect them! Our sincere thanks to Tony and Babz, and to Mrs Pat Fuesdale for all that they've done, and to everyone at the club for their kindness and generosity. The pictures show Tony and Pat at their collection point!

27th September - Craft Fair, Rise Park Community Centre, Nottingham

Laura would like to express her thanks to Diane and Kim for organising the event and to everyone who came along to show their support.  Over £20 was raised in merchandise sales and lots of beautiful hand made cards and parcel fillers were donated too.  Another great show of support for our boys and girls.

Thank You from Iraq

Maria in Bromsgrove has been working very closely with local schools, encouraging the children to bring in parcel fillers and to write messages of support.  One of the schools recently received this wonderful video, from the Medics in Iraq.  What an amazing gesture!  Sorry we've had to remove the video as it was causing problems with the page loading, but it was wonderful!

In recogonition

Since the very early days of SOS, Mary & Ron McClarty of Sunderland have been sending parcels out to Iraq and Afghanistan.  Firstly this was done through Head Office, and then they established their own contacts and sent the parcels directly.  Having seen their parcels personally I know just how much thought and effort was put in to these.  I recently received a phone call from a very overwhelmed Mary to say that a bunch of flowers and box of chocolates had arrived from Afghanistan.  There was a note expressing sincere thanks included, but no name. As Mary said 'All we ever wanted to do was to give a little something to share, in what must be a very hard time, and just to let them know we support them and think of them all the time until they are home again.' So from a very moved and humbled Mary and Ron, sincere thanks to whoever made this lovely gesture, very much appreciated.

Oliver Meets Prince Charles and President Bush!

Nicola has very kindly given us permission to display some wonderful photos of her son Oliver.  The first pictures show the very proud moment when Oliver received his MC from Prince Charles earlier this year.  The final picture was also taken earlier this year during President Bush's visit to the UK. Very impressive we're sure you'll agree! Our sincere congratulations to Oliver and of course his very proud family.

Weymouth & Portland Housing

Our very sincere thanks to Mandy, Housing Manager and to all the residents at Weymouth & Portland Housing who have worked together to assemble 30 care packages for the Troops.  A wonderful effort which will be much appreciated.

SOS Charity Weekend - Cheadle

Some great coverage of the recent Charity Weekend very kindly organised by twelve year old Martin Clowes which raised the amazing sum of £1,110.  Thank you Martin, you're an absolute star!

Devon Update

Our sincere thanks to Peter and Becki who raised the wonderful sum of £900 at a recent collection at Tesco Roborough store.  Peter would also like to offer his thanks to Speed Print, Dinam Way, Exmouth for very kindly producing posters for the forthcoming services at Exeter Cathedral and St Columb Monor Church.  Their support is much appreciated.

Sunderland Echo's Honour Our Brave Campaign

Generous offers from businesses across the North East are continuing to flood in for the Echo's Honour Our Brave campaign. More than 40 shops, restaurants and visitor attractions have now signed up to our drive to thank the hundreds of brave men and women across the region who are serving in warzones such as Iraq and Afghanistan .... Meanwhile, a charity walk organised by staff at Tavistock Leisure, which was among the first businesses to sign up to the Honour our Brave' campaign, has raised £5,000 to help support British troops serving overseas.

Full report from the Echo This is great news and once again our sincere thanks to Lyndsey and everyone at the Tavistock Italia for all there amazing support.

Support From Anheuser Busch

Adam and Nikki have just returned from Florida where they saw the fantastic support given to members of the Armed Forces by Anheuser Busch Inc.  This is the free entry point at Seaworld.  Wouldn't it be great to see the likes of Alton Towers and Blackpool Pleasure Beach following suit here in the UK!  And we're delighted that the UK side of Anheuser Busch have supported us too, with a wonderful box of t-shirts and goodies for the Xmas parcels.  Sincere thanks guys for all that you do for our boys and girls.

Tuesday 9th September - Trolley Collection Sainsburys

Moosie, Jays mum very kindly organised a trolley collection at Sainsburys and was delighted with the response received.  Lots of parcel fillers and lots of positive support.  Sincere thanks to everyone involved for their help with this.

5th, 6th & 7th September - The Victory Show, Cosby

Report from Amanda - Due to severe weather the Victory Show was cancelled, however ! We arrived at 8am on the Friday and Sgt Bagshaw 9/12L was already erecting our tent.  The event was called off at 10am but as we were in situ we were told wee could stay !! By lunch time we were waterlogged but after speaking to the organisers and having the Rangers offer us a place in their compound, we decided to stay put - the Germans were still there so there was no way we were leaving! Sheree and Tim were not joining us until the evening but as people were not being allowed on site and due to the forecast they decided not to persevere. Once we were recamped on slightly firmer ground our new 'friends' the yanks (Normandy 44 re-enactment group), fed and watered us  and we were allowed whatever we could scrounge from them. We had a wet and windy night ,the cadets, JC and Swifty were very entertaining ! and we survived the storm.  With no let up in sight by lunchtime Saturday the local council and police etc requested everyone left the area due to flood warnings so we eventually packed and left. I'm pleased to say we managed a stay of 2 days and one night as oppsosed to three days and two nights.  We will most certainly be attempting this event again next year, we enjoyed it and even though it wasnt hot Afghan conditions it made us realise how difficult it is for our Troops when faced with the unknown. Our grateful thanks to TA, ACF, and ARMY CAREERS TEAM LEICS, esp Sgt Bagshaw, we couldn't have done it without your help and loan of kit etc. Thank you to those who have kindly agreed to pay sponsor money to us still, much appreciated.

Support from Leicestershire

Amanda's been out and about with her banner and found lots of willing volunteers wanting to show their support for our boys and girls!

Congratulations to Jo Ann

Many congratulations to Kale's daughter Jo-Ann on her graduation from nursery and first day at school!

August 2008

Thanks from Iraq

Many thanks to L/Cpl David Bailey in Iraq who has been distributing parcels for SOS to make sure that they're being shared out.  David's sent through some wonderful photos of the parcels being received.  It's great to see that they are arriving safely, and our very sincere thanks to him and to all our brave boys and girls out there. If you're reading this guys, THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU'RE DOING, WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!

Article in Aberdeen Press & Journal
National charity Support Our Soldiers regularly sends care packages to people serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. As well as sundry items like toiletries ...

Soldiers’ charity gets support recruit

The Bristol Bulletin

Kim D's recent efforts have made it into the BCU Newsletter which is circulated to all Bristol District Police Officers and staff.  Well done Kim, and thank you!

Times Online - UK - Interview with Nell McAndrew

I have charities that I always try and help, such as Cancer Research UK, Help the Aged, Support Our Soldiers. My dad had cancer and is in remission now. ...

Not Just Anybody: TV presenter Nell McAndrew

17th August 2008 - Charity Football Match

Despite a poor turn out, the Charity Football match raised £425 through gate sales.  A further £500 was very kindly donated by Alcoa Europe, and £75 as a very generous gesture from the parents of Darren Tucker.  Rubery Ladies once again showed their support by holding a Tombola and monies raised from this have been added to their SOS fund which will be presented next year.  Birmingham City All Stars won the match and trophy and we hope to have some pictures of this being presented soon.  Our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed towards the day, and for very kindly offering to run the event again next year!

17th August 2008 - The latest addition to the Team

Delighted to report that in the early hours of Sunday morning Kat gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.  He's called Charlie Jack and weighed in at 7lbs 5oz.  Mum and baby both doing well.  Congratulations to Kat, to Dad Nicky and big sister Sophie!

Thanks from and to Peter - Devon & Cornwall Representative

Peter would like to offer a vote of thanks to First Great Western Trains who have very kindly donated complimentary tickets to assist Peter on his various collections around the two counties.  We would also like to offer our thanks to Peter who so far during the month of August has collected an amazing £1,060. This a wonderful result and we're all extremely grateful for Peter's hard work and dedication.

Sewing World Article

A thank you from Mary Anne - "I would like to thank Sewing World magazine and Editor Wendy Gardner for the fabulous feature they did on the Cool Ties. The magazine just came out today and already I have had a lady enquire about making them! The article also mentions SOS, the care parcels, and has a link to to the web site!"

Tuesday 12th August - BAE Presentation

Sammi and I were very kindly invited over to BAE Systems to accept the cheque for funds raised during SOS Awareness Week by BAE. We were met there by a real welcome party - Kale, her husband Chris, her son Nick serving with 1 Lancs, Martin from 9 Para, Lauren Liverpool OTC, Val Dollimore whose husband Brian brought lots of parcel fillers over after SOSAW week, Bob Keyburn Works Administrator, Cath Hargreaves Charity Challenge Coordinator, Barrie Bowker Training Partner and TA representative, John Rainford Supervisor and John Bradley 398 Electrics!! Everyone had been involved with the BAE SOS Campaign in some way.  A lovely lunch was provided and this gave us the chance to chat about what BAE had done for us, and how they could help in the future. The support that they're showing is just tremendous and we really can't thank them enough. We were presented with a huge cheque, huge in both size and in value - £940.57!!  Plus Kale had collected a further £130 from the sale of wristbands and pin badges. A really tremendous result for which we're extremely grateful.

It was lovely too to chat with Nick, Martin and Lauren. Nick returned from Iraq earlier this year, and Martin is back from Afghanistan having been seriously wounded in the suicide bomb attack which resulted in the loss of the three brave paras. Thanks to the tremendous care given to him both in Afghan and at Headley Court Martin has made almost made a full recovery and hopes to back with his team soon.  Lauren has just been accepted to Sandhurst, so reasons to be very proud of all of them.

After lunch we made our way over to Fulwood Barracks where we were presented to Brigadier Griffiths who wanted to know all about SOS which of course we told him in great detail! He's very kindly agreed to put leaflets in each of the family packs that are sent out so again, a great result as this means that families whose loved ones are deploying will get to know about SOS right from the start. 

Finally a photo shoot, a chance to chat some more about ideas for the future (which sound very grand by the way!) and then we made our way home. So yes a fantastic day and again our sincere thanks to Kale for everything that she's done.
We also went home with a full car - baby wipes kindly given by Bob, a selection of t-shirts and mugs given to Chris and a huge bag of paperbacks!   Karen

Monday 11th August - Sewathon

Joy C from Stockton and her freinds spent a busy day at their Sewathon making the beautiful Cool Ties that Joyce has been sending out in her parcels.  John Stratford of Gardman  had very kindly donated 12kg of  the water retaining crystals.  Joy has also been sending the ties to other Co-ordinators who needed them. Sincere thanks to Joy and all the ladies who took part, and of course to John for his very kind donation.

Sunday 10th August - Bingley Show

Despite the rain and gusting wind we had a very successful day, raising a grand total of £690.30!  Many thanks to Bev, Kazza B, Jo, John and Judith for coming along and helping out for the day, and thanks to my team, Kat, Sophie, Sammi, Becky and Lucy for all their help before hand too. We had an early start with the gates opening at 9am, but from then until close at 5.30pm we were literally non-stop.  The teddy tombola went down very well, as did sales of the merchandise, particularly the t-shirts and shoppers.  It was wonderful to meet so many people, all very keen to show their support for our boys and girls.  Philip Davies, our MP came along to say hello too, and there's a picture below.  As you can see by that time we'd had to abandon the gazebo due it nearly being blown away on several occasions! Many thanks again to everyone involved, and definitely a diary date for next year!  Karen

Saturday 9th August - Cream Tea - Budleigh Salterton

The wet August weather in no way dampened the spirits of the dear folks of Budleigh Salterton last Saturday afternoon. A cream tea with homemade mouth-watering delicious cakes was very well supported by the people of the town who turned out in spite of the pouring rain to Budleigh’s Temple Methodist Church.

The Cream Tea was organised by the Friends of The Temple Methodist Church, to generate funds Support Our Soldiers. Peter Bond our Devon & Cornwall representative opened the event and spoke about the work of SOS.  He also invited people to write messages of goodwill.  The Cream tea was very much enjoyed by all who attended and the town’s peoples support generated the marvellous sum of £185.00 , closely followed by a further donation of £39.00.

Cash aid for troops Devon 24 - UK
Friends of Budleigh Salterton Temple Methodist Church and Celia Cockett held the event to raise much-needed funds for the Support Our Soldiers (SOS) charity ...

Our Youngest Supporter!!

This is a picture of Karen Gs grandson Kai sporting his first SOS t-shirt at just 19 days old!  A big welcome to Kai and our congratulations to all the family.

Rocking The Troops

A great mention about SOS on the show recently. Thanks guys for this!

Rocking The Troops

A Thank You from Joyce & Jill

'Mrs Cowell and her sister are two ladies that Phil and & I met at the Freedom of the City Parade in Sunderland.  After asking about our T Shirts Phil had quite a conversation with them.  They thought what SOS does was brilliant and promised to do something to help. Anyway to cut a long story short. Mrs Cowell phoned and said that she had had a collection amongst her friends and neighbours (nearly all of them are elderly pensioners).  So yesterday Jill and I went to see Mrs Cowell.  She had spent the money on everything from note books and pens/pencils toilettries, sweets and even individual packs of Brazil nuts.  All together she said she had been given £90 (remember these people are all on pensions). The only thing I can say is that we were both gobsmacked.  So we now have (by adding a few bits and pieces) another 20 parcels ready to go.  All thanks to Mrs Cowell and her wonderful friends and neighbours, at Dodds Court, Town End Farm in Sunderland' Joyce & Jill

Sincere Thanks

Tracy would like to say 'thank you to Scotts Farm Shop in Witchford customers and staff for another full collecting tin.  I have dropped off another tin with them today so thanks must go to them for their continued support.  Also a thank you to the Post Office in Little Downham who also give me continued support and have had 3 collecting tins over the past few months.'

Sunday 3rd August - Party in the Park, Cheadle, Staffordshire.  

Report from Pauline - ' Sunday saw Martin, his brother Jonathon, their parents Mel and Shaun and myself all setting up our stalls at the local Party in the Park.  We had a great day and got many visitors to the stall. Everyone was supportive of our troops and gave generously to our cause.  We ran a' name the teddy' and the winner was Derek Benton who then very generously gave me the teddy back to use again. Thanks Derek.  12 year old Martin and younger brother Jonathon concentrated on the 'beat the goalie' and had a great time. Thanks to Matt, Dave, Ash and Harry who all wanted to win and so spent a fair amount of money trying.  In the end it was Harry who walked away the winner. We also had a golfing game  and sold some SOS merchandise.  We raised £101.32 with a further £80 from the boys, which Martin is using to fund his next batch of parcels.  Also got an address for someone out in Afghan from his grand parents and a parcel was sent out to him the very next day. I would like to add a huge THANK YOU to Martin and all his family for everything they have been doing and are continuing to do for SOS.'

Sunday 3rd August - Vintage Car Rally Hebden Bridge

Vicky and Helen kindly hosted an SOS stall at the Vintage Car Rally in Hebden Bridge.  Helped by familiy and friends, including Vicky's son James who has recently returned from Afghanistan, they raised a wonderful £308.35.  Many thanks to everyone who helped out on the day and to the visitors at the rally who gave so generously. Helen's son is currently serving in Afghanistan so we wish him all the very best.

Saturday 2nd August  - Collection at Morrisons in Bromsgrove  

Report from Maria - Heidi, Ann, Abi and Irene all helped ask shoppers to buy an item for a soldier and we managed 10 banana boxes full of food, toiletries, sweets etc.  Linda and Irene are now sorting through and packing.  It means we've got enough to send for the next couple of months which is fab.

Friday 1st August - Tavistock Presentation

A busy week for our Sunderland team! On Friday Joyce and Phil were presented with a cheque for the amazing amount of £5,035.35 raised by Lyndsey Urwin of the Tavistock Italia who organised a sponsored walk and fun day in June for SOS Awareness Week. A full report and pictures of the event itself can be seen on the SOSAW page, and there are further details in the South Shields Gazette

Our very sincere thanks are extended to Lyndsey for such a tremendous effort and of course to everyone who helped or contributed on the day to make the event such a huge success.

Lyndsey Urwin and Phillip Crow of the Tavistock Italia, South Shields

present cheque to Joyce & Phil

July 2008

31st July - 4th RA Freedom of the City March Sunderland

Kim, Joyce and her husband Phil, Jill and daughter Bethany all went together to the Civic Centre to show the members of 4th R.A. how proud they are of them and to say thank you for all they have done.  Everyone had a wonderful day, many proud family members or friends managed to get to see their loved ones march on this special day. Whilst many other people had simply turned up to show their support for our troops. It was a chance to also remember those brave men and women that have not managed to return home to their families. 

The turnout was excellent with loads of people lining the streets, then the service was held in the park opposite the Civic Centre.  There is a little story about the first picture shown below - the single man marching at the front was there because the band arrived late and didn't get a chance to study the route.  There was a concern that if there weren't many people watching the parade, the band might end up going the wrong way!  The man at the front is from Sunderland, so he was sent out as the "guide".  As he came level with the Civic Centre, there was a loud cheer from the crowd, and his face absolutely beamed!

26th July - York Charity Market

Cherrill had a lovely sunny day for the Charity Market and raised a wonderful £249.77 through sales of bric a brac, merchandise and from donations.  Sincere thanks to Cherrill for organising this and to everyone who contributed on the day.

Thursday 24th July - Families Day, RAF Marham

Report from Tracy 'Well we had a great day at Marham.  We raised £107 in merchandise sales and £28.88 in donations.  The day was really hot but very very busy.  It was great also to meet someone who had been sent one of our parcels last Christmas - he thanked said to pass on his thanks to everyone involved and how great it was to get parcels from home and to know that someone cares enough to send them.  Many thanks must go to Flt Lt Katie Sharman for all her help in getting the stall sorted out & also to Phil (hubbie) for standing on the stall all day.'

Thursday 24th July 7.30pm - Quiz and raffle

The quiz at Lady Bird Inn, Aston Fields, Bromsgrove was a big success.  It's only a small pub but thanks to the efforts of Trevor the volunteer quiz master, who threw some real good ones in and the landlord Ian, the night raised £202.00.  Although only 8 teams took part, and Marias Soldiers Sweetehearts came 4th, the raffle did really well.  A fun evening thoroughly enjoyed by all!

21st July - Triumphant homecoming as troops stage first march past Parliament of British soldiers serving in Iraq

120 soldiers from the 4th Mechanised Brigade marched to Parliament for a reception with MPs.  For full report see Daily Mail

BAE Systems, Liquid Plastics, St Bede's Catholic High School and More...

During SOS Awareness Week Kale spread the word about SOS with amazing results.  Her enthusiasm spread seemingly throughout Lancashire, and support has been forthcoming throughout June and July. To follow is a very brief summary of the events that have taken place -

BAE Systems - Collecting boxes were put out at the BAE sites in Samlesbury and Warton resulting in hundreds of items being donated for the parcels.  These included toiletries, books, sweets, cakes, biscuits, playing cards, stationeryand more. The goods filled a transit and Chris, Kale's husband, very kindly drove these over to Bingley for us. They've now all been packed into parcels and are safely on their way to the lads in Iraq and Afghanistan who will appreciate them so much.

Huge thanks to Kale, to Chris and to everyone at BAE who contributed.  Not only that but a further £650 was raised for the SOSAW Appeal and a cheque will be presented shortly.  Our thanks too to Kale's son Nick, who very kindly gave up three days of his r&r to help his mum out!

Liquid Plastics - Our very sincere thanks to Brian Dollimore who's wife Val works with Kale at BAE. Val told Brian what was happening there, and he took up the challenge at his own workplace, Liquid Plastics in Preston.  The girls there went shopping with the monies raised, and Brian very kindly brought a truck load of wonderful parcel fillers over to HO. Again, fantastic items, we truly were delighted. Brian's also taken more posters and leaflets and continues to spread the word for which we're extremely grateful. This is Brian with just one of the many, many bags of goodies brought over.

St Bede's Catholic high School - Vaughan and his wife Barbara also took up the SOS challenge with remarkable results.  Vaughan is a teacher at St Bede's Catholic High School in Lytham St Annes, and he's encouraged the Year 9 & 10 pupils to become involved in a huge way.  A special assembly for our Armed Forces was held on the 8th July which Mel our Blackpool a/c attended, parcel fillers have been collected, messages of goodwill written and powerpoint presentations and videos prepared. To follow are some stills from the ppt and the video will be added shortly.  To Vaughan, Barbara and all the students and staff who have taken SOS to heart, our very grateful thanks.

Body Shop Services - And the final thank you for the moment to Janet at Akzonobel who presented a selection of t-shirts, fleeces and mugs to Chris for the lads out on ops.  Another wonderful gesture.

Further updates from Kale will be added as they come in.  In the meantime, thank you once again to each and everyone of those taking part..

Sincere Thanks to Kate's Cakes

Our very sincere thanks go to Kate's Cakes who have pledged 14 cases of flapjacks to Kate, our Crawley a/c.  These will be much appreciated!

www.katescakes.com

Wednesday 23rd July - Quiz Night & Hot Pot Supper

This event was very kindly organised by Mel and Josie and the 6th Buxton Ranger,s and held at St Anne's Parish Centre, Hardwick Square, Buxton. Despite a few glitches, including the electricity going down (!) a great night was had by all and a wonderful £280 raised. Proceeds from the night are to be split between SOS and the Rangers' other nominated charity, Yorkshire Air Ambulance. Just as importantly though, the evening really raised awareness of how much our guys and girls need our support and Josie and Mel have already got people making up boxes and wanting to offer support as a consequence of the night. They would like to say a massive thanks to everyone who came and supported them and donated prizes and box fillers.  Our thanks too to Pauline for all the help and support that she's given to the girls.

Sunday 20th July - Fun Day and Table Top sale at Droitwich British Legion, Droitwich, Worcestershire.

The fun day was not very well attended, weather problems.  Thanks must go to Sharon and Sam for all the hard work they put into the day and raised a total of £260.00

Saturday 19th July - 45 Commando Royal Marines Families Day

Aby, whose brother serves with 45 Commando Royal Marines, attended their Pre deployment Families day on Saturday 19th July.  She would just like to say 'a huge thank you to all the guys concerned who entertained big kids and little kids alike for the whole day!!  It was lovely to see all our brave boys and girls in uniform and humbling that despite the fact some hadn't seen their families for some time they spent most of the day entertaining us with their stalls and displays.  To follow are a few photos of me and my boys enjoying some of their displays and of my brother L/Cpl Forster who I am extremely proud!'

Saturday 12th July - Sunderland South Forum Annual Summer Fayre

Joyce, Kim and Jill attended the Summer Fayre at Portland College, Doxford Park on behalf of SOS on the 12th July. There were lots of stalls and free family activities throughout the day.  Some of the activities included face painting, mask making, a penalty shootout competition, live music and dance performances, art and craft displays, therapies including massage and reflexology, ballon animals - and a free magic show!  Outside was the Sunderland Maritime Heritage model Venerable Bed, the A690 football Cage and the Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service doing a chip pan demonstration.  They had lots of S.O.S. information, magnets etc, display board, name the dog which turned out to be called Sam!  Kim and Jill did face painting, whilst Joyce was very busy looking after the display area.  The ladies would like to give a HUGE thank you to everyone involved with arranging today and letting SOS be involved. They would also like to thank everyone that took the time to show their support to our troops  and raise the wonderful sum of £142. All in all they had a really good day, so a BIG thank you again from SOS.

Rugeley Conservative Association collect Parcel Fillers for our Boys

Our sincere thanks to Vic Hardcastle and Rugeley Conservative Party for organising collection boxes in Aldi and Brewery Street Market.  Pauline, our Stoke on Trent a/c went along to accept the items and was delighted with the response.  Sincere thanks too to everyone who contributed.

Our Thanks...

Sincere thanks go to the following individuals and organisations who have very kindly supported us over the past weeks -

To Olive Prewer for her continued supply of beautiful hand made greetings cards. To Debs' daughters friend and to Sarah for the lovely get well cards. To Marie for the fantastic parcels, get well and birthday cards. To the McKee family for four wonderful parcels which are now on their way to 2 Para as requested. To Potley Hill Primary School for their kind donation of £16.60 raised by the junior children in class 3/4C.

Many thanks from Kate, our Crawley a/c, to Jill Thornhill from Rusper Golf Club who has donated 40 golf balls to us.

Many thanks from Peter, our Devon representative, to Debbie Marchant of Kilves Marchant, Woodbury, East Devon who has very kindly donated a box containing a few hundred post cards with pictures of the local area. The cards  are being signed by local people during collections with good  will messages for the troops.

And from Amanda in Leicester - ' A huge thankyou to Chris Sturgess of Sturgess Jaguar/garages Leicester for his support, following taking photos at the Jaguar premises Chris wanted to know all about SOS and since then he has contacted other businesses and Ii have now been offered a supply of socks from H.J.HALL, Hinkley Leics, and flapjacks for all my parcels from Graham Yorke at QUORNDON. Thanks also go to Mr and Mrs Stern of Wigston who continue to drop of one or two parcels every few weeks, and to Mandy Scott/Mick Blundell who are busy collecting at Dodson and Horrell, Kettering. A massive thanks to Chris and Zoe Middleton from Market Harborough who came to my home with a giant sized box filled with, sun creams, toiletries, haribo, socks, vest tops, underwear,flip flops, etc. 20 boxes have been made up so far ! and are winging their way to the sandpits. Thanks to the Leicester Royal infirmary for their continued support and the WRVS who donated over 100, various greetings cards to send to the bases for the lads/lasses to send home for birthdays etc. And last but by no means least to Alistair, who has by kind permission of Karen had our SOS logo added to his fleet of courier vans, how fantastic is that! So look out for them up and down the country everyone. Phew, WELL DONE LEICESTER, cant be many that dont know of SOS now!'

Saturday 5th July - Bag Pack at Asda Gosforth

Thanks to S/LT Margaret Bickle for arranging the cadets for our day, making
sure they arrived on time and that everything was okay for them throughout
the bag pack. Chris and Julie from Newburn Sea Cadets and of course all of
the cadets that came along to pack bags for the day.

The Sea Cadets really worked hard on Sat and as far as i'm aware there were no broken eggs!!! The Cadets that helped out on the day and are also in the photograph are as follows:-
Julie Fleming, L/C Claire Kendall, C Nicole Calvert, O/C Kayleigh Bowman, A/C Shauna Proud, C Mairead Rocks, S/LT Margaret Bickle, O/C Craig Currie, L/JNR Lauren Driver, L/JNR Connor Simms.

Thanks also to my friend Val, even though she wasn't feeling very well she
packed bags for the full day. Caroline also came to help for the afternoon
and brought along her friend Joanne so big thanks to you too! I would like to thank CPO Lee Lowdon for all of his help before the day, Lee really did help me put the whole day together and gave me the confidence to keep going, even if he did enjoy winding me up when I was getting stressed!!!! Asda staff and customers were really great, we had quite a few giggles.  The final total from the day was ... £787.13. Thanks for every penny from the generous customers in Asda in Gosforth, and of course a big thank you also has to go to the lovely staff at Asda ( hiya Linda!) Kim xxx

Cool Ties make it to Madeira!

Visit to CSMR

Report from Maria - ' I arrived to a very hot BFPO 17 on Wednesday.  The regiment were fantastic and couldn't have looked after me better if they'd tried.  I watched the parade practice before being taking out for an evening meal by my lovely son.  I had to make the most of him before his girlfriend and the rest of the Naval Nurses that had served with 1 CSMR in Iraq arrived on Thursday.   On Thursday I joined Philip's boss and his family for a BBQ at their home on where I had a great time and ate far too much.   Friday arrived and thankfully the morning was much cooler, I'd witnessed 7 fainting at the pratice on Wednesday, so having a much lower temperature was great for all those taking part.  The parade was for the disbandment of 1 Close Support Medical Regiment for the formation of 2 seperate units.  1 Med and 2 Med Regiments.  They were also presented with thier Iraq medals by HRH The Duke of Gloucester.  I was then taken for lunch and presented to HRH The Duke, who now knows all about SOS.  He was very impressed and I am to write to him with more information.   In the evening there was an All Ranks Summer Ball. The lads and lasses of the regiment can't thank SOS enough for all that we do.  The 2IC, capt Ian Razzell said he was overwhelmed by the whole thing and that our parcels give such a boost to moral, especially to the single personel. It was great to hear such positive feedback for the parcels and also from the wives who loved the gifts we sent them, and thought it was such a nice gesture that they hadn't been forgotten.'  Pictures below including those of the homecoming and Philip receiving his medal from HRH The Duke of Gloucester -

Our Lad Ricky

Our Lad Ricky' is the first of three books written by Michael Rushton.  It covers the period from his enlistment and training as a Sapper in the Royal Engineeers in the mid 1960's. After five attempts at trying to enlist in the Army he recruited his best friend and school chum Ben to take his medical for him at the Queen Street, Wolverhampton, Recruiting Office. Having 'successfully' enlisted the story continues to highlight the many, often funny and ludicrous, situations he found himself in over the next 19 weeks of basic training. He did ultimately Pass Out of Basic Training whereupon he was posted to Osnabruck in (then) West Germany where he continued to enjoy his Military Service.  During the months and years, 25 years in fact, following Basic Training he would forever find himself in awkward, funny and unbelievable situations.  Spike Milligan had nothing on him!!  To find out more about the book or to place an order please visit Our Lad Ricky

Our Thanks...

Sincere thanks go to the following individuals and organisations who have very kindly supported us over the past few weeks -

To Helen Booth from Hebden Bridge who even though her own son has returned safely from the Gulf, continues to send parcel fillers for those still remaining.

To Lorraine and all the staff at Green Flag, Pudsey who made up 35 wonderful parcels which have now been forwarded to the lads and lassies by Bev, our Bradford coordinator.

To S Morgan, Mrs M Tennant, Mrs B O'Brien, Ann Catt, Kevin Kelly, Antony, Abrey, Annie Parry, Amy Hawes, Cathy McCann, Jerry Holden, Adam Wood, Pauline Ashley- Jones, Christopher Bates and Peggy Hall for their kind and very genorous donations.

To everyone who donated via the collection box in the NAAFI at Marne Barracks. This raised £24.69 and thanks too to Heather for organising this.

To Louise & Scott McAuliffe, Katrina Harvey, Ann Hammond and everyone at Hubbard Casting for the wonderful parcels sent via the PO BOX.

Cleveland SSAFA Helping SOS - Cool Ties - Sewing for Soldiers

Many thanks go to Joy Carroll, a member of Cleveland Branch  SSAFA Forces Help who is now busily engaged collecting items for parcels & forwarding them to SOS. She is also making cool ties. Joy approached Strikes Nurseries at Stokesley to see if they would donate the crystals and assistant manager Malcolm Cox was delighted to help. Support was also forthcoming from Boyes of Billingham who provided the material and also Elizabeth’s Embroidery in Stockton who added a magnificent finishing touch by embroidering a yellow ribbon logo. With this generous and magnificent help Joy has just dispatched 30 Cool ties for onward transmission to Afghanistan, accompanied by best wishes for a speedy and safe return home. Cleveland SSAFA volunteers are aiming to provide at least 100 Care Parcels for Afghanistan and Iraq during the next few months.

Backing Troops in War Zones

Our sincere thanks go to all the girls from 6th Buxton Rangers who have put together lots of parcels to send out to the boys and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They've done a tremendous job with this and are continuing with their support by holding a quiz night and hot pot supper at St Anne's Parish Centre, Hardwick Square, Buxton on the 23rd July too!  Special thanks to Mel and Josie for all their hard work with this.  Pauline, our a/c for Stoke on Trent is working with the girls and will be making sure the parcels are sent safely on their way! Buxton Advertiser

Packing boxes for troops overseas, Buxton rangers Sarah and Karen Hodgkinson, Mel Fletcher, Amanda Patterson, Holly Slater and Josie Swift. Buxton Advertiser

On their bikes for wounded servicemen

A FIREFIGHTER is gearing up for a 100-mile bike ride to help raise cash for injured soldiers returning from Iraq ... Burton Mail

June 2008

27th to 29th June 2008

Veterans' Day Southport

Emma and her team were in Southport for their Veterans' Day celebrations.  This is the report from Emma.  'Southport Veteran's Day went really well, we made £115.48 on the day and a further £49 from the merchandise sales.  Graham Walker (who has been a staunch supporter of SOS since the early days and raised money and collected parcel items) visited the stall and we are looking at ways to raise further money for SOS together.  Lastly we had a visit from a Brigadier at the stall, who thanked us for all the work we are doing. So all in all a really good day!'

Veterans' Day Blackpool

Mel and the team had a fantastic day in Blackpool despite the dreadful weather.  They met lots of people, including the Duchess of Cornwall, and raised £213.94!  Sincere thanks to Mel for all her hard work in organising everything for the event, and to Emma C and Eleanor for all their help on the day.

Veterans' Weekend - Bradford

A wonderful weekend was planned by Bradford Council and we were delighted to be invited to attend throughout.  Friday saw the Veterans Lunch hosted by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Howard Middleton. A wonderful reception was provided and it was a true priveledge to be there amongst so many of our brave men and women.

On Saturday the SOS team turned out in force and we spent a very enjoyable day meeting new friends and old, and taking in the activities.

On the Sunday the day began with a Drumhead Service which was very moving indeed. The Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Roger Whittaker gave a wonderful speech, and paid his respects to those lost in conflicts past and present. The entertainment continued throughout the afternoon, concluding with the Swing Era Big Band who had the crowds up and dancing to many nostalgic tunes. We raised the grand sum of £437.61 over the two days which we were obviously delighted with! 

Many thanks to Lynn and Caitelyn, Bev, John, Kat and Sophie and Judith for all their fantastic help as always, and to my mum who came down from Scotland for a break with us, but did a great job with the collecting tin!  Special thanks too to Capt Craig Mitchell AKA 'Mitch' and all the guys from the Royal Engineers Association who welcomed us so warmly and looked after us so well! 

27th June 2008

Simonside Social Club

Tony and his wife Babz of Simonside Social Club have for the past six weeks been encouraging their members and the people of South Shields to donate parcel fillers for our boys and girls.  Joyce and her husband Phil went along on Friday for the official handover and were simply overwhelmed by the generosity that has been shown by both individuals and companies alike. These will keep Joyce busy packing parcels for a good time to come!  Our sincere thanks to Tony and Babz for instigating this, and to the wonderful people and companies of South Shields who as always have given so generously.  Thank you to to Sergeant Paul Reid of 2 Rifles who attended the handover and to the Shields Gazette for their coverage of the day. Full report from the Gazette can be viewed here Life's luxuries sent to our front line Troops in Afghanistan

26th June 2008

Funeral For a Hero

Hundreds of mourners lined the streets of Uckfield to pay tribute to one of its bravest sons - paratrooper Daniel Gamble, the 100th British solider to be killed in Afghanistan.  Our sincere condolences are offered to Daniel's family, friends and colleagues on this very sad day.  Daily Mail

25th June 2008 - SOS Cool Ties Sewathon

Report from Louise - 'On Wednesday 25th June around 30 people got together in the Families Centre, Churchill Square, Helensburgh, to “Sew for Soldiers. The organisation of the day was a joint effort between myself and Sophia Ramage and Richard Keller both from Naval Personal and Family Services. Most of the volunteers were the wives of serving submariners, but we were also joined by a couple of local ladies who had seen the earlier article in the Helensburgh Advertiser, one of whom was a mum whose son is currently serving in Afghanistan. The crystals for the ties was very kindly donated by Dobbies Gardening World in Paisley. The volunteers came along and gave whatever time they could spare, ranging from a couple of hours to the full 12. We all took on various tasks, sewing, pressing, pinning and turning through the ties….and the kettle was always on! Many of us hadn’t done any sewing for years, some even since school days, but we gave it our best, and made 155 “Cool Ties” to be sent out in care boxes. And the volunteers who own their own machines took fabric and crystals away with them to continue over the coming weeks at home. There was a creche available which was funded by our Naval Chaplaincy, and the food and drink, which kept us all going throughout the day, was funded by the Naval Personal and Family Services. Many also took the opportunity to donate items, including toiletries and sweets, to be included in the care boxes.
Photographers from the "Clyde Courier" and the "Helensburgh Advertiser" came and took lots of pictures, photos below The photographer from the advertiser bought himself a cool tie from us as he thought we were doing such a great thing! We also sold another 9 of the ties (some of the ladies buying 1 of the ties they had made themselves!!). So all in all a great day......'

21st June - Wayne's 'Hair Do' for SOS!

Wayne North, whose nephew is currently serving in Afghanistan, had his hair trimmed today by ex Leicester City player and local legend, Steve Walsh. Wayne will then not have it cut again until Liam's tour ends! He's being sponsored with proceeds to SOS, and his bosses at Pointer design, Leics have very kindly offered to match what he raises.   So far Wayne has had an amzing £700 pledged!! The North family have been superb in their support for SOS, and our sincere thanks to them for all that they've done!

Saturday 21st June 2008 - Bromsgrove's Court Leet

Report from Maria  - Court Leet, depite the rain was good.  I had loads of help and thank you's go to Wendy Webster and Pauline for collecting lots of tombola prizes.  Rubery British Legion and Bridget Claydon for the loan of their tombola drums.  Wendy and Lyndsay Adams, as well as Ed the Ted, who helped run the stall.  Irene Clark and Ellie McDermot, who again helped on the day.  My Mom for grabbing all our old post office customers to make a donation.  None of them escaped past our stall.  Kaylea Dalton who despite having a dancing exam turned up to help out.  Carole and Hannah Wills, they came over from Kidderminster to run the childrens tombola.  Last but not least my friend and neighbour Sarah Nokes, she was up with me at 7.30am setting up the stall and stayed all day,  I couldn't have done it without her.  Barry Clark who is now in the process of making our own tombola drums so we don't have to borrow again.   All in all SOS was well advertised and we made £285.05, so it was worth getting soaked & cold.  Well done to all of Worcestershire SOS & thank you for your continued support & help.

20th June 2008

Paratrooper Laid to Rest

Family and friends have paid their final respects to a teenage soldier killed in Afghanistan.  Private Nathan Cuthbertson was fatally injured, along with his colleagues Private Daniel Gamble and Private Charles Murray, when a lone insurgent detonated an explosive device as they returned to base in Helmand Province on June 8.  Around 850 mourners attended the 19-year-old's full military funeral which took place in Sunderland Minster. Outside, hundreds more watched the service from a giant TV screen in the grounds of the church. Joyce and Jill attended the funeral and paid their respects to Nathan's family on behalf of everyone here at SOS.  ITN News  BBC News

Thanks from Devon & Cornwall

Peter would like to offer a sincere vote of thanks to Tesco Exmouth Stores Limited for the very kind donation of a £20 voucher, for all of the very kind support given to him by their helpful staff, and to Tesco Stores Limited for very kindly offering collection dates in Tesco Stores around Devon & Cornwall.

His thanks are also offered to Jones The Boot Maker Shoe Shops, High Street, Exeter, Devon where the very kind ladies have been saving shoe boxes for him since January this year. Thanks also to Baileys,Clarks, The Parade Exmouth, Sports World Exmouth and Stead & Simpson for saving shoe boxes too.

From Boy to Man

This fabulous painting was submitted to us by Ann, who's granddaughter painted this as the 'final piece' for her foundation course at Bangor College.  She chose to do Joe, her cousin, who was brought up on a farm, and is now serving in Afghanistan.  The painting shows the comparison of then & now.  As Joe's mum says 'Every mother's little boy.......now grown up!'

Arthur Lane Campaigns to give lost soldiers proper burial

From Stockport Express, June 18th 2008

13th & 14th June - SOS Collections Dawlish & Torquay

Many thanks to Peter who collected £134.29 through his collection in Dawlish and £133.43 in Torquay.  A wonderful result & thank you to everyone who contributed.

The Majority - The Windowframe

Kris McDonald, a student at Liverpool John Moore's University had to produce a music video as part of his coursework and has been working with Liverpool's The Majority.  They have produced a song called the Windowframe and the video is intended to make people aware of what our Troops are going through.

As Steven Brocklehurst, lead singer from The Majority, says - 'We feel that a large part of society chooses to ignore what our soldiers have and are still doing for our country. Its a sense of, well it doesnt affect me so I won't worry about the consequences until its too late. I am not a politicain, i am a musician first and foremost but I can sit in silence and say it does not affect me and future generations. I have the utmost respect for what our soldiers do, I know deep down I couldnt do it out of fear, I am honest enough to admit that. But I want people to sit up and take notice of the people who have bravery few of us are born with to fight for the freedom of speech and living we are given in this country. That's why I went as far back as possible to the Great War ( WW1 ) for our uniforms because there was a 100 year difference between that uniform and the uniform the main actor wore. 100 years, not much has changed in the way we do not pay enough respect or support our soldiers past and present. I think you're doing an amazing job in trying to raise awareness and I hope our video helps in some small way to do the same.' Our sincere thanks go to Kris and to Steven for their kind words and support, please do take a moment to watch the video which can be viewed here

Sincere Thanks

Our sincere thanks go to the following individuals and organisations who have all made wonderful contributions over the past weeks -

To Olive Prewer for the wonderful Father's Day cards which have all been sent out to Iraq and Afghanistan for the lads & lassies to send back to their loved ones.

To Debbie, Brenda and all those who have sent Get Well cards for the Medical Centre in Afghanistan.

To Mrs Hartland, Miss Hutty and Kevin Wall for their very kind and continued donations.  To Philip Davies MP who completed a survey and donated the £50 charity contribution to us. To Paul Inwood for his kind donation, and kind words too. To staff and pupils at Chesnut Lodge School in Widnes for their very kind donation of £62.30.  Thank you particularly to Headteacher Mrs Austin for organising this.

To everyone at Carlson Wagonlit Travel Emergency Service Centre for the wondeful parcels sent to us.  To Louise J too for the wonderful parcels which she's continually provided.

And finally to Gerber Soft Drinks in Bridgwater who kindly donated 240 small cartons of juice.  Sam is packing these in to parcels as we speak!

Huge Thanks to Windsor School, Monchengladbach

Jacqui who's Sixth Form Secretary at Windsor School has been in touch to let us know that an amazing £3,588 has been raised for SOS by the Sixth Form students during their Rag Week.  This is an incredible achievement and we're delighted that the Students chose SOS as one of their charities.  Jacqui says " We do this each year in March for one week and the students choose different charities each year. This year we raised a staggering €13,300, through sheer grit, determination and hard work. We are delighted to be sending Support Our Soldiers a cheque for £3,588." Our humble and sincere thanks go to Jacqui, and to every single one of the students and staff members involved. There are some pictures of the week below or you can take a look in more detail at Rag Week

11th June - Oliver Reuker and Levis Ashby Receive MCs

Oliver and Levis were just two of the soldiers to receive medals from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace today in recognition of their roles in Afghanistan as their proud families looked on.  Many congratulations Teddy, Levis and all those recognised today, we are very, very proud of you!  This is the video from BBC Look East - http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/england/7449566.stm

May 2008

Wirral Band In2ition donate to Support Our Soldiers

We're delighted to announce that In2ition have very kindly offered to donate 30p from every sale of their new single, double A-side Blood and Tears and Where Did You Go, to SOS!  Both songs are written by guitarist Steve Mason and performed by vocalist Laura McGuigan, and are very poignant indeed.

To hear the songs, or to watch the video please use the following link.  The single can also be purchased via this link.  It's priced at just £2.99 and as above, 30p from each sale will go to SOS.  Listen to the music

Our sincere thanks to Wayne, Steve, Laura and everyone involved with the single for this wonderful gesture.

icCheshireOnline - Band make debut release
The group have reached an agreement with the Support Our Soldiers organisation which will see 30p of every single bought being donated to the charity. ...

Scotts Farm Shop, Witchford - Collection

Many thanks to staff and customers from Scotts Farm Shop in Witchford who have collected a wonderful £33 for parcels.  The collections will continue throughout the year and we offer our grateful thanks for this continued support. Thank you also to Tracy for organising this.

Fruit Juice to Selly Oak

From Amanda, our Leicester A/C - "Our fab donor of the footballs (who wishes to remain anonymous) donated to support our soldiers  this week 400 one litre cartons of fruit juice.  Logistically we couldnt get them out to the troops on deployment, so i contacted the WO2 at Selly Oak and they said they would be delighted to accept them for the injured soldiers there.  So on Thursday evening, Wayne and Keith North, who are two wonderful guys who support us enormously (and have a nephew/grandson in the sandpit at the moment) drove to Selly in a transit laden with juice, biscuits,gifts oh and beers ! to deliver the huge care package.  They were most gratefully recieved, and the guys were made most welcome there. I cannot thank our donor enough, such a very generous gift,and to the North family for their support and dedication to SOS, well done guys , and thank you.x"  And from everyone at SOS our sincere thanks too, your support truly is invaluable.

Linda's Mail Mission

THE mother of a soldier serving in Iraq is appealing for help as she sets out to ‘treat our troops.’ Linda Adkins’s youngest son, Dean has been serving on the front-line in war-torn Basra since last November.  See full report on Cynon Valley Leader website

18th May - Keynsham Fun Run

Kim D's children took part in the fun run on Sunday, and both wore their Support Our Soldiers t-shirts!

17th May 2008 - Pudsey Carnival

As seems to be the norm these days, the weather for the carnival was not terribly kind with rain most of the day.  However we still managed to raise £85 through sales of merchandise and a further £48.40 in collections so a grand total of £133.40 for the day.  Many thanks to Kat, Sammi and Sophie for all their help and to Lynn R and Caitelyn for coming along to lend a hand too.

14th May 2008 - Support Our Soldiers visits BFPO Northolt

Agnes and I were delighted to be invited to BFPO Northolt to meet with Wing Commander Ian Fancourt, Lt Col Nick Larkin and Lt Col Brett Duxbury.  We had a very productive meeting and will update you more on this as we can. But the good news for the moment is that we have been given the green light on the Xmas parcels. We will be allocated an amount that we can send, and we will need to adhere to this, but the most important thing is that we can now put plans in place.

The feedback about parcels that have been sent out by SOS in the past was very positive too - well packed, clearly labelled, etc, etc! So no complaints there! Well done everyone!

By coincidence as we were being shown around the despatch area, we spotted two parcels that we'd posted out on Saturday! Shows that the system does work!
The BFPO facility itself is very impressive with state of the art equipment and dedicated staff.

Many thanks to the MOD for their hospitality and for giving us the opportunity to put our thoughts and experiences to them.

And to conclude the day, returning back to the VSC we bumped into Princess Anne! Well that is an exageration but she was coming out as were going on and managed to snap a quick picture!

Cartridge World - Bromsgrove

Cartridge World in Bromsgrove have very kindly offered to make a donation to Support Our Soldiers for every used ink cartridge taken into their store.  So if you're in the area please don't throw your empty cartridges away - take them to Cartridge World!

Fairytales Balloons - Kidderminster

Fairytales Balloons have also kindly offered to donate 5% of their profits to SOS>  They are a new family family business who do weddings, children's parties, face painting, etc.  More details can be found on their website www.fairytalesballoons.co.uk

3rd May - Holiday@Home Meets SOS

On Saturday, Amanda from the Holiday@Home project met up with Joolz to hand over the items collected for the Troops by the congregation of St Mary Magdalene Church, Sale.  A huge thank you to Amanda, to everyone who contributed, and to Joolz for collecting the items which have now been made up into parcels and sent off to our lads and lassies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

3rd May - SOS at Bromsgrove Fete

Maria very kindly organised an SOS stall at her local village fete and raised an amazing £219.   She ran a 'Sponser a hot water bottle appeal' and invited people to pay a £1 to sponsor a hot water bottle for the coming winter.   Cameron and his parents Carol and David spent the majority of the day manning the stall, whilst   Irene spent the day leafleting and explaining all about SOS, and she along with Wendy Webster made cakes to sell.  The picture below shows Cameron with Julie Kirkbride MP, who came along to lend her support.

2nd May - Passing Out Parade

Delighted to report that Kim's son Chris passed out at Catterick today. Many congratulatons Chris, we're all very proud of you - but none of us more so than your mum!  Congratulations also to everyone who passed out with Chris.  Well done lads and lassies - we salute you.

April 2008

30th April - 2 Yorks Honoured for Afghan Deployment

Hundreds of proud family and friends watched 600 Soldiers from 2 Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards) receive medals recognising their recent operational tour in Afghanistan.  The battalion returned home in early April 2008 after spending six months in Helmand Province, where they were deployed to mentor the Afghan National Army (ANA).  Full story MOD

27th April - Cash Floods in for the Troops

CARING residents in and around Bromsgrove are continuing to donate hundreds of pounds in cash to British forces in war worn areas...  Fantastic coverage once again from the Bromsgrove Advertiser, and fantastic work by Maria! To view full report click here

Scot's Guards Get Piper Farewell from Afghanistan

Back in February Right Flank Company of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards were led back to base from their final patrol by Piper Phil Stevenson.  This is a very prestigious duty, traditionally since Scots guards were first to win battle honours, a piper has led them back from battle, and this is continued to this day.  Agnes managed to obtain a copy of the photo and had this framed for Phil's very proud mum and dad!

Daily Record report can be viewed here

2nd Battalion Duke of Lancaster Jungle Training

Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Duke of Lancasters are currently on Exercise Tropical Storm in the jungle, including among them Joolz's son Dan.  Wishing them all thevery best of luck.  Full report Manchester Evening News

1st Battalion Irish Guards South Africa Tour

Earlier this year a contingent of approximately 50 soldiers from 1st Battalion Irish Guards completed a  successful tour of KwaZulu-Natal Battlefields in South Africa where they visited several historical battlefields and memorial sites of the Zulu and Boer Wars.  The tour was very significant for the Irish Guards as they traced the origins of the Irish Guard battalion formed in 1900 during the reign of  Queen Victoria as a direct result of the bravery and courage of the Irish troops in the Boer War. They visited  the 1879 Isandlwana battlefield and memorial site, where the British army was to suffer its biggest defeat ever at the hands of a native military foe.  Shortly after that battle, around 4000 Zulu warriors attacked the fortified mission station at Rorke's Drift. It was defended by only 139 British soldiers yet the battle at Rorke's Drift turned out very differently from the Battle at Isandlwana; the British inflicted horrific casualties upon the attacking Zulu, and successfully beat back the Zulus. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to defenders of Rorke's Drift,
the most ever received by a regiment for a single action.  

The Irish Guards also exercised their freedom of Ladysmith Township by a parade through the town and reception by the Major of  Ladysmith.

During the tour the Irish Guards and Royal Navy were part of the hundreds of international guests and media who converged on KwaZulu-Natal at the start of
the Ladysmith Siege Weekend to commemorate historic events that took place during the Anglo-Boer War which cuminated in the  Ladysmith Swartkop Challenge.

The Ladysmith Swartkop Challenge is an extreme sport event for teams of 20 + 2 leaders to draw a gun weighing some 1300kg up a hill of up to 1:1 over a
course of some 130m. It is inspired by feats of arms in the South African
War of 1899-1902 when heavy guns were repeatedly mounted on the top of kopjes and manpower was the only resource once the incline became too steep for draught animals. The Challenge duplicates Swartkop where 14 guns were mounted for the Battle of Vaalkraz - one of the several attempts to lift the Siege of Ladysmith
which kept the British Empire on edge for 118 days.  The origins of the Naval Gun Run Competition are based on the feats of the Naval Brigades during the defence
and relief of Ladysmith for which 16 VC's were awarded. Five teams competed against the clock to draw the 1300kg Naval long 12pdr on wooden trail up the 1:1
slope of 130m. With an impressive display of power and control the Ist Battalion Irish Guards B team set an opening time that was not bettered on the sunny and windy day on Wagon Hill Ladysmith.  They now hold the world record for the event of 16mins, 53 seconds. The Royal Navy Devonport Field Gun Team an experienced
handlers of guns and had power and weight in their favour  came an impressive second. Prizes were awarded by Her Worship the Mayor of Ladysmith and the event was watched by an enthusiastic crowd of some 600 who were entertained between the timed runs by energetic Zulu dancing and the Dundee Die-Hards. The previous best time was set by 2 Royal Regiment of Scotland (The Royal Highland Fusiliers) of 20mins 58sec in 2007.

22nd April - Royal Navy PresentationTeam Visit Ayr Racecourse

Agnes went along to the Princess Royal Suite at Ayr racecourse to meet up with the team.  She said " The presentation was excellent, not just of interest to those with Navy connections, and if it is in an area near you would encourage everyone to attend.  The team are very professional, approachable and a credit to the Senior Service". Picture shows Agnes with Commanding Officer, Commander Justin Hughes RN, Lieutenant Emma Blackburn, RM Shane Madison and Leading Seaman Chris Browne.

Holiday @ Home

Amanda Hill has been working with St Mary Magdalene Church in Manchester, where members of the congregation have been invited to contribute parcel fillers and messages of support for the boys and girls in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's been a wonderful response to this, and Alison will shortly be handing the first batch of items over to Joolz in Warrington for packing and wrapping.  Our sincere thanks to everyone at St Mary Magdalane for their kindness and generosity, and a special thank you to Amanda for organising this.

Welcome Home!

A big welcome home to Vicky's son James!  Report from the Todmorden News -

A SOLDIER who has spent the past seven months in Afghanistan has returned home to Todmorden. Twenty-year-old James, a driver in the Royal Logistics Corps, 27th Transport Regiment, said it was fantastic to be back home with his family...Full story - Soldier James back from Afghanistan

9th April 2008 - Welcome Baby Alfie

We're delighted to announce that on the 9th April at 10.03am our very own Rebecca gave birth to a beautiful baby boy weighing 9lb 9oz!  Our hearfelt congratulations to Rebecca and Ben, we wish you all many happy days ahead, and not too many sleepless nights!

Cameron makes it into the 1 CSMR Welfare Magazine

Families of 1 CSMR in Munster were delighted to receive the Easter eggs collected by Cameron (see pictures below) and wrote the following in their magazine -

"All the children left with an Easter egg, which had been collected by a young lad in the UK called Cameron Barrett from Bromsgrove School. We are arranging for a gift from us to be presented to him in his school assembly. Maria O’Ryan who has been supporting the guys/girls in Iraq with welfare parcels arranged for the eggs to be delivered to us from the UK so they all arrived in one piece."

Footballs to the Gulf!

Amanda, our Leicester representative has spent the past few weeks posting footballs, and pumps, out to the lads!  As you can imagine these are going down, (or up indeed!) really well!  Many thanks go to the gentleman who very kindly donated the balls, and many thanks too to Marcia Lennon at Phillips Tuftex Ltd for answering Amanda's call for pumps and supplying 30 of these. Both the gestures are very much appreciated.

Sincere Thanks....

Our very sincere thanks go to Di who's put together a huge number of parcel fillers including facecloths, nail brushes, combs, emery boards and bobbles for the girls, mints and lollies. We're extremely grateful to Di for her continued support.

Sincere thanks too to Lynn & Mike Tucker and Remy the guidedog for more wonderful parcels, to Louise Jutsum for her parcel, to Miss K Scott for parcel fillers, Olive Prewer for more beautiful hand made cards.

A special thank you to Judith at the Paradis Cafe in Keighley for acting as a collection point, and to all her customers for their kind and generous donations.

Hike Jordan 2008 - Marcus Dimbleby

From 5th - 12th October 2008 Marcus will be taking part in a challenging 5-day trek in Jordan, hiking from the Dead Sea to Petra and sleeping out beneath the stars.  All sponsorship money raised will go to The Douglas Bader Foundation,  which exists to advance and promote the physical, mental and spiritual welfare and benefit of persons who are without one or more limbs, or otherwise physically disabled.   The Foundation is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, and Marcus felt it a particularly appropriate charity considering the number of limb-related injuries our troops are suffering on operations. http://www.douglasbaderfoundation.co.uk

To sponsor Marcus please visit http://www.justgiving.com/hikejordan2008

March 2008

Stoke on Trent Support!

Pauline, our Stoke on Trent representative, would like to offer her thanks to the following who have all helped out this month -

Thanks to all family, friends and regulars of the Red Lion in Checkley for having a go on the name the rabbit which raised £50 towards boxes for the forces. Well done John who won Toby the rabbit for his daughter!  

Also thanks to friends and everyone at Meir Tick Tock playgroup who also raised £50 on name the duck.  Well done to the lady who won Freda the duck.  

A big thank you to the congregation of Christ Church in Tean who for their Lent project have been donating items to go in boxes. We've received a large amount of different items including sweets, drinks, toothpaste and brushes, shower gel, socks etc.  Thank you too for the £20 donation from a member of the congretation.

Special thanks must go to Sandra for organizing this collection and  to everyone who donated towards supporting our soldiers

1940s Evening

Maria's 1940's do went really well.  She had a singer, an air raid, got arrested as sheI didn't have an ID card. She did buy one on the black market but the ARP was having none of it so she ended up in jail as a suspected spy!.   After expenses the grand total made was a wonderful £517.57!   On top of that 76 bags of Haribo were also collected - part of the entry fee! Well done Maria, another wonderful result and our sincere thanks for all your hard work on behalf of Support Our Soldiers!!

Easter Update

Maria our Bromsgrove representative has had some fantastic support from the people of Bromsgrove and in particular from 9 year old Cameron who's encouraged everyone at Lickey Hills Primary School to get involved in the Easter Appeal.  These are the reports from the Bromsgrove Advertiser and The Bromsgrove Standard

                   Cameron's Poster                 With the eggs collected at school

Kind-hearted youngsters from Meadows First School dug deep in their money boxes, bought more than 100 Easter eggs for the soldiers and sent them greeting cards and children from Bellfield

Junior School in Northfield also made Easter cards and collected 60 eggs.

Pauline and Margaret from Hadens in Rubery and Harveys Cleaners in Redditch ran the SOS donate £1 to buy a soldier an egg campaign.

And town MP Julie Kirkbride, who also gave her support to the SOS Christmas shoebox appeal, has donated to the Easter drive.

She said: “I think it’s fantastic that the people of Bromsgrove want to show their firm support for the dangerous and difficult job our boys and girls are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. We’d all like to wish our troops a safe and happy Easter far away from home.”

Maria with Julie Kirkbride MP

Overall, across Bromsgrove, Droitwich and Redditch, 236 Easter eggs have been collected and 52 boxes have been filled with chocolates, cakes and biscuits - they will now go out to those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Olive Prewer has sent some beautiful hand made Easter cards, all individually signed with messages of goodwill, and these have been sent out to the lads in Iraq and Afghanistan together with lots of boxes of mini eggs for sharing from the team in Bingley!  Happy Easter guys (and girls of course!)

Peter our Devon representative has held a number of collections in local supermarkets with the following amazing results -

Saturday, 16th February, the Co-op Store, Teignmouth £258.00

Friday, 22nd February, the Co Op Store, Seaton £237.14

Saturday, 23rd February, WM Morrisons, Tiverton, £456.37

Friday, 29th February, Somerfields, Crediton, £134.79

Saturday, 1st March, Exmouth Town Centre, £257.36

Friday, 7th March, Exeter City Centre,  £153.22

Sandra Huish very kindly collected £16.42 from the local florist and Weight Watchers

This makes the grand total of Easter Collections a fantastic £1513.30

Part of the monies have been used to send Welfare packages to 243 Hospital Unit and The 3 Commando Armoured Support Unit RM, to be taken out to Afghanistan.

Peter's SOS Exmouth Journal - UK

13th March 2008

Wonderful parcel and message of support received this week from Lynn & Mike Tucker, and another great parcel from East Grinstead.  Also lots more bags of goodies from Shirley Thompson in Cottingley.  Special thanks to Shirley and to Maureen & Eric Dinsdale, Mary McHugh and Lenny Thompson who all have their 'soldier's carrier bags' on the go again!

7th March 2008

AND THE VERY BEST NEWS - OLIVER REUKER AWARDED MC !!!

181 members of the Armed Forces and three MOD civilians have been honoured today, Friday 7 March 2008, for their courage and professionalism on operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and around the world. And we're delighted that Oliver Reuker has been awarded an MC. Congratulations Oliver, and every Serviceman and woman so deservedly recognised for your bravery and courage. We are very, very proud of you all!

From the MOD website - Lance Corporal Oliver Ruecker, of The Royal Anglian Regiment, receives the Military Cross. When Ruecker was part of a Viking vehicle patrol, two rocket propelled grenades hit the vehicle setting it alight. As Ruecker dismounted from the vehicle he saw an armed Taliban fighter about to engage his colleagues as they climbed out of the vehicle. He immediately neutralized the fighter, removing a serious threat to his fellow soldiers. He then realised that there was still someone stuck in the burning vehicle. With a complete disregard for his own safety, Ruecker returned through a hail of enemy fire, and extracted the soldier from the burning vehicle. Seconds later it exploded into a ball of flames. Full report - MOD

7th March 2008

Wear Uniforms in Public, Says PM

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged Britain's armed forces to wear their uniforms in public and condemned any abuse of them by people opposed to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He spoke out after senior officers at RAF Wittering advised airmen and women to wear civilian dress when they visited nearby Peterborough in case they attracted insults. Mr Brown, speaking at No 10, said: "All our armed forces should be able to, and encouraged to, wear their uniform in public and have the respect and gratitude of the British people for the huge commitment to public service they show. "I encourage the local police to back up our armed forces so that not only can our armed forces wear their uniforms in public, but they should have the gratitude of the British public for the work they do." Full report Yahoo News

Tragic War Hero Mum's Plea

THE family of a Blackpool soldier killed in Iraq is urging people to sign a petition for the release of a commemorative set of stamps. Royal Mail bosses have so far refused to issue the set of stamps which feature the face of Gunner Lee Thornton along with other soldiers who have been killed in action. The artwork, by renowned artist Steve McQueen, has been the subject of much debate since the stamps went on public display last year at the Imperial War Museum. Gunner Thornton's parents, Mick and Karen, joined dozens of other families in giving their consent for the face of their loved one to be used. Full story Blackpool Gazette

Petition to Help Our Wounded

Denzil Connick, secretary of the South Atlantic Medal Association, has organised a petition to the Prime Minister for better care for wounded soldiers.  Denzil, as some of you know, was seriously wounded while serving with The Third Battalion of The Parachute Regiment in the Falklands and is still being treated for his injuries.  He is due to go into hospital in the next week or two for yet another major operation. Many of the youngsters serving today in places like Iraq and Afghanistan - along with those already wounded - will, like Denzil, face years of pain and treatment.  This is your chance to do something to try to help them and it will only take a couple of minutes of your time.  One of Denzil's sons has already served in Iraq twice and is on yet another tour of duty in Afghanistan. His other son is a Submariner.  Denzil has asked for this message to be passed to as many people as possible and urges you to sign - and to get others to sign as well.  So please sign and then pass on the link to those you feel should know.  Just click on the link below or copy and paste it into your address bar.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Wounded/

Big Battlefield Bike Ride

A request from Ben Appleton who will shortly be taking part in the Big Battlefield Bike Ride - "I am about to embark on a 350 mile charity bike ride around the WWI & II battlefields of France, I am doing this in aide of Help for Heroes which is a charity that has been set up to help wounded service personnel from current theaters of war. As a member of the British T.A. reserves I know how important their work is and would like to do my best for them. To take part in the ride I have to raise £2000 pounds, to help with this I would like to hold a raffle or auction. I would be very grateful if you could offer any support for this, please feel free to visit my websites for more information. Just Giving - Ben Appleton
If you can help or would like more information I would love to hear from you.
Regards, Ben Appleton"

Haden's of Rubery Support Our Soldiers

Many thanks to Pauline and Margaret who are publicising SOS at Haden's of Rubery.  According to Maria, our Bromsgrove representative, the girls won't let anyone out of the shop without making some contribution!  Well done Pauline and Margaret!

Damart Donates Thermals!

We're delighted to announce that Damart have very kindly pledged around 9,000 items of thermal clothing to help keep the lads and lassies warm. This donation was organised by Judith, our Bingley representative and John Bottomley, Marketing Director at Damart and we're extemely grateful to them.  As temperatures are starting to increase in both Iraq and Afghanistan, the thermals will be stored over the summer and despatched later in the year when temperatures begin to fall once again.

Yorkshire Evening Post Report

1st March - Dobbie's Garden Centre

Kim and Joyce, our Newcastle and Sunderland representatives set up stall at Dobbie's Garden Centre in Ponteland on Saturday and raised a wonderful £273.34 from donations plus a further £21 from the sale of SOS merchandise.

Sincere thanks to Kim and Joyce for arranging this, to Graham Darling and Audrey Gardener of Dobbie's who kindly gave permission for the collection to go ahead, to all the staff at the garden centre for their help, to Tracy for lending a hand, and to all the members of the public who gave so generously.

February 2008

Sincere Thanks

Our sincere thanks go to the following individuals and organisations who have all made wonderful contributions over the past weeks -

To Olive Prewer, Joyce Royle and Brenda Bishop for the wonderful hand made greetings, Valentines and Mothers Day cards which have all been sent out to Iraq and Afghanistan for the lads and lassies to send back to their loved ones.

To David and Stuart of Barter Books in Alnwick for the wonderful donation of 70 paperback books collected by Kim.

Also to Durham Police Force who donated two bin bags of paperback books for Kim's Book Bundle Appeal.

To Michelle Rashleigh who held a raffle at her work, Scott Brothers Farm Shop, and raised a wonderful £436.26

To Donald Asset Management Ltd who sponsored a water bottle from Maria for an amazing and very generous £100

To Marie in Sunderland who held an SOS Dedication day at Barclay's call centre and raised a fantastic £400.  And on top of this Barclay's have pledged to match this amount, so a great result and the effort very much appreciated. 

To Mrs Norma Merritt and everyone at Doxford Park Estate Forum in Sunderland who presented Joyce, our Sunderland representative, with a very generous cheque for £100

To Sam Eaton, Andrew & Sarah Chinappa, Mr & Mrs Stark, Stuart Rich and everyone at Vygon (UK) Ltd, for fabulous parcels and parcel fillers.

Thank you one and all.

New Website Launched - Veterans In Need;  "Strike Us Not With Impunity"

Our new Veterans' group have so far;
1. Raised the issues of Veterans Homes in Scotland and have lobbied long and hard. We have argued for 30 million pounds to be spent on upgrading Veterans Homes in Scotland and won!
2. We have forces Perth & Kinross Council, through Holyrood and Westminster not to means test War Pensions, which means that all invalided Veterans and their families will receive full housing benefit and full council tax rebate and also get all their illegally paid rent money back.
 3. We have successfully resolved issues for 300+ Veterans and paid for the expenses out of our own pockets.
 4. The Scottish Sun ran a 2 page article to help launch our group nationally but printed the wrong website address.
Our Group is, Veterans In Need; Motto is "Strike Us Not With Impunity"
our website address is www.we-leave-no-veteran-behind.com  Please take a look and sign our guestbook!

Irish Guards Parade, Liverpool 2nd February 2008

Mary, Michelle, Emma and I were delighted to be invited to attend the Irish Guards Parade on Saturday. What a wonderful day this was, it will truly live in our memories for a long, long time to come. 

The day began at the Anglican cathedral with a service to celebrate the exercising of the freedom of the City of Liverpool. This was led by Canon Anthony Hawley, Vice-Dean of Liverpool, Father John Thompson, Parish Priest of St Francis de Sales, Walton, Father Nicholas Gosnell CF (RC), Chaplain 1st Battalion Irish Guards and Dean of the Military Cathedral of St Michael and St George, Aldershot.  Music was provided by The Band of the Irish Guards under the direction of Maj  C Barmwell BBCM psm IG and the Irish Guards Singers under the direction of Mr John Hyland.

The parade then assembled to march through the City of Liverpool.  This was a wonderful site to see, more than 200 Irish Guards, afffiliated Army Cadets and members of the Irish Guards Association all cheered on by the crowds.

Many thanks to Jim of the Irish Guards Association for allowing us to use the pictures of the parade and the assembly at St John's Garden as shown below.

Parade aseembles outside the cathedral

Proudly marching through the streets of Liverpool

Assembled at St John's Gardens

Members of 1st Battalion Irish Guards

Members of the Pipe Band

Outside St Georges Hall the salute was taken by the Lord Mayor and then at St John's Gardens, Major-General Sir Sebastian Roberts unveiled a memorial stone dedicated to all fallen Irish Guards.

The plaque is unveiled

To all fallen Irish Guards

After a very emotional (and cold!) morning we moved to the civic reception where food and drinks were provided.  The Major-General gave a very rousing speech, cheered on by the Guards, both serving and veterans alike.  We were very priviledged to be introduced to Sir Sebastian, who was well informed about Support Our Soldiers, and it was a real pleasure and honour to chat with him.

We then went on to HMS Eaglet for more drinks and spent a lovely few hours chatting to the lads and listening to the improptu singing from members of the IGA and the playing of the Pipes.

The Pipes are calling...

A very moving moment as a song is shared across the generations

Emma C with her brother John, his new wife Penny and Kenny Owen

Our sincere thanks go to Kenny for inviting us to the day, and to everyone there for making us feel so welcome.  A very proud day indeed.

And a final thank you to the three Guards who shall remain nameless, but who entertained us so gallantly into the early hours ......!

The Royal Dragoon Guards Return Home 1st February 2008

Soldiers from The Royal Dragoon Guards began returning to their bases in Germany on the 1st February 2008, following a successful three month tour in Iraq. Full story www.mod.uk

The Royal Dragoon Guards' CO, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Hyams (left) salutes with some of his men [Picture: Cpl Ralph Merry RAF]

January 2008

Hampshire welcomes home all three services 29th January 2008

More than 3,000 people lined the streets of Winchester to welcome home Hampshire-based servicemen and women from the Army, Royal Navy and the RAF who have recently returned from operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Troops from HMS Richmond, 1st Battalion Irish Guards, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, The Kings Royal Hussars, 4 General Support Medical Regiment, The Rifles, and RAF Odiham marched to the beat of three military bands through the centre of Winchester to a special reception in the historic city's Great Hall.  Full story www.mod.uk

More than 3,000 people turned out to support Hampshire's troops as they paraded through Winchester's streets [Picture: Corporal Adrian Harlen RLC]

Town Pays Tribute to Courageous Soldier 28th January 2008

A town came to a standstill last night to honour a soldier killed in Afghanistan last week. The body of Corporal Darryl Gardiner, from Salisbury, was brought back to Britain after he was killed in a roadside explosion in Helmand Province on the 20th January. His family was present as his coffin arrived at RAF Lyneham, and the cortege then passed through the nearest town of Wootton Bassett as dusk fell. Full report Western Daily Press

[Picture: Western Daily Press]

The Royal Anglian Regiment Parade Great Yarmouth 27th January 2008

The Royal Anglian Regiment exercised its freedom of the borough on Sunday, 27 January, 2008  Pictures can be seen at www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/

Cameron Calls for Help

9 year old Cameron who sent out parcels at Christmas has called on his school to help out through the year -

Well done Cameron!  We will of course keep you posted as to how he gets on.

Support our soldiers
Great Yarmouth Mercury - Great Yarmouth,England,UK
THE mother of a soldier who was killed while serving in Afghanistan has called on the people of Great Yarmouth to turn out in their hundreds and support the ...