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Hampshire businesses have been urged to join the front line in the fight to help soldiers recovering from serious wounds suffered in Iraq or Afghanistan.
The charity Help for Heroes has already raised a staggering £13m for improved facilities at the UK’s military rehabilitation centre, Headley Court in Surrey and an expanded centre for the treatment of combat stress.
But more support was often needed once conventional treatment stopped, the charity’s co-founder Bryn Parry told nearly 50 business people at a breakfast meeting sponsored by Parallel Business Centres at Cams Hall, Fareham.
He outlined plans for a lifelong support network, including employers prepared to offer training, job opportunities and mentoring. “We can give these extraordinary people a real chance to open a second chapter in their lives.”
Afghanistan veteran Lt Colonel Simon Butt described life for the soldiers – typically aged just 19 - “in almost daily contact with the enemy, fighting in 50 Deg. C temperatures while carrying 80lb of kit”. He recently returned from commanding B Company, the 2nd Battalion Mercians (WFR) in Helmand Province. Whilst there he led them in a 12 hour battle, in which one of his men died and another won the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. “The threat was all pervading, 360 degrees,” he added.
And landlocked Afghanistan is not just an Army war. Commodore Steve Kirby, commander of the marine warfare school at HMS Collingwood, near Fareham, said Marine Commandos and Navy helicopter crews were in combat and Navy ratings drove and serviced army vehicles. “We all wear combat uniform when required. Therefore we are all liable to be recipients of this fantastic cause.”
For details of the charity, go to http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk or call 0845 673 1760. For details of Cams Hall, go to http://www.parallelbusinesscentres.co.uk
Photo caption: From left, Malcolm Young, chief executive of The Wilky Group, owners of Parallel Business Centres, and Parallel’s managing director Sandra Leslie with Commodore Steve Kirby, Bryn Parry, Lt Col Simon Butt and Emma Parry.
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