Help for Heroes ?

I've noticed recently that a number of charities have been a bit disgruntled because it was felt that all the media "publicity" about Help for Heroes is diverting public subscriptions away from their collecting boxes.

With that in mind, I stood in a local supermarket last wednesday expecting that there would be less money coming in for our (Legion) collection this year.
I was surprised, and moved, to see the amount of five and ten pound notes that people were handing over for their poppies.

I believe that it is the media coverage of the Afghanistan campaign that is raising public awareness of what our armed forces are going through but even so, I feel I must raise a cheer for the generosity of the people of our country.

Sah !

Obviously Sainsburys...........sniff.

Shelldrake wrote:

Obviously Sainsburys...........sniff.

Well it wasnae 'kin Aldi I can tell you that pal !

In many areas, certainly Berkshire, there is an agreement by all the military charities that The Royal British Legion have exclusive rights to stret collections in the run up to Remembrance Sunday.

I agree that the general public is still remarkably generous with donations to the RBL but at other times of the year H4H collar the market, raise vast amounts of money, which their constitution prevents them spending, and other military charities such as SSAFA, the ABF and individual Regimental Charities suffer the consequences.

The Children in Need charity collection coincides with the poppy appeal every year.What I would like the BBC to do is have a fundraising Troops in Need and Pensioners in Need some time in the year so that the public can do similar activity and the Beeb can show the various actions of the public like those in Children in Need in a programme purely for the services and pensioners so that the charities can build up their funds to help those who genuinely need it.

rucjock21 wrote:

The Children in Need charity collection coincides with the poppy appeal every year.What I would like the BBC to do is have a fundraising Troops in Need and Pensioners in Need some time in the year so that the public can do similar activity and the Beeb can show the various actions of the public like those in Children in Need in a programme purely for the services and pensioners so that the charities can build up its funds to help those who genuinely need it.

Totally agree, good post.

Has anyone actually addressed the problems that veteran's are having with the very large rises in fuel duty and the virtually monthly rises the utilities are hyping upon us.The rises we are getting in war pensions and other service related pensions are rather dismal.The government have a veterans minister but does anyone know who he is and what does he actually do to earn his hyped up salary for sitting on his a**e in Whitehall.Sorry to go on a bit about the problems but a lot of us are struggling right now.

Absolutely right there, thing is Ex Service members have been struggling for years, there should always be someone to help but the reality is once out you are left to fend for yourself (apart of course from organisations like Legion) in all honesty when you think of all these couples get with child benefits and help with nursery school and so on (and nobody asks them to have children they cannot afford to keep) it is about time the government came to their senses and look after the people who after all they are asking to put lives on the line



Les

Nae money so huv nae weans I say.

Don't give money nor help for Help for Heroes.

It's a con !

H for H is not my favourite charity at the moment as the MOD has too much input...but can you explain (It's a con !)

In the area I live (in Spain) a lot of money is raised for H for H by people who have fallen out/become dissilusioned with some branches of the RBL over here . I've never heard of it being described as a con before and would be interested, Pete26 , to know why.

And me, I have donated to them in the past and bought items from their Shop. If this is a con I would like to be able to claim a refund?

Aye..You might need it after the cypriots empty your bank accountsssssss

Don't need any Cypriots to do that, she who must be obeyed is very efficient at that sort of thing!!

I'm not going to knock Help For Heroes because I think they do a good job but from where I'm sitting the problme is they only help people from the most recent conflicts. If you copped yer whack in Op Banner or before then you've got to fall back on the Legion and some of the older charities, except: Army of Angels, which is a fairly recently established outfit but gives help in a way I've not seen others do. They really helped me.

So if you're an older veteran and are on hard times or if you know someone who's in that situation go to their website. (sorry can't post the link because site rules won't allow me - yet, but just do a Google for Army of Angels)

Here is the link, no problem pasting it ... its better than some of the crap I read here.

Len (Ciphers

http://www.armyofangels.org.uk

I think the majority of the ex service community out there either don't have a computer or are not in touch with the various organisations that helping veterans.We see a lot on TV of the Help for Heroes,Homes/Houses for Heroes etc etc and because of pride they will not approach these organisations for help.These organisations are charities that help in a big way and rely on donations from joe public.I personally think that governments over the decades should have been paying for a lot of the help instead of standing to the side and letting charities doing their work for them.

Politicians don't give a toss about veterans. Headley Court was paid for by charitable donations. This stinking government should be embarrassed about the lack of care for wounded/ex soldiers post Telic/Herrick. Politicians are parasites who pre election promise the earth, and post election quickly forget. Even ex soldiers who have gone into politics are (Imo) wankers. Look at Iain Duncan Smith, ex CO Scotts Guards and millionaire who is now a politician who says it's easy to survive on £57 a week, however he is less than keen to put it to the test, wanker.

In my experience guards officers only joined 'Daddies' regiment on a short service commission because if they didn't then 'daddy' would write them out of the will.