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Help for
Heroes. I have thought long and hard as to a good way to explain
what Help for Heroes is all about and I have been unable to find a
better way than that which they have written on their website so I quote:-
"What is H4H all about? It's about the blokes, our men and women. It's
about Derri, a rugby player who lost both his legs, it's about Carl whose jaw
is wired up so he has been drinking through a straw. It's about Richard who
was handed a mobile phone as he lay on a stretcher so he could say goodbye
to his wife. It is about Ben, it's about Steven and Andy and Mark, it's about
all of them.They are just blokes but they are our blokes; they are our heroes.
We want to help our heroes."
The charity Help
for Heroes was launched in October 2007 in response to the desire of ordinary
people to do something practical to help our wounded servicemen and women.
Help for Heroes is very simple; they are a strictly non political, they
recognise that wars happen under any government and they are non critical,
prefering to get on with the job rather than talking about rights and wrongs.
Their first task was to raise £6 million to help provide a swimming pool and
gym complex at the tri-service rehabilitation centre at Headley Court. With
the support of Royalty,The Armed Forces, Celebrities, the Press and thousands
of ordinary, decent people they achieved their target in eight months.
Their
first task is complete but their job is not and while our young men and women
continue to be wounded, they intend to be there to help.
Our Servicemen and
women give more, risk more and sacrifice more, so they believe that they should
be given more; they believe they deserve the very best. THEY say they are not
Heroes, that they are just blokes doing their job; we say that anyone who joins
the Armed Forces in time of war is a hero.
Help for Heroes needs to raise a
lot of money and as the money comes in they spend it, on improving facilities
like the pool complex or the relative's house at Selly Oak and by giving grants
to the right organisations to ensure that our wounded get the very best.
Your
Help and Support is Urgently needed right now by Help for Heroes.
LATEST INFO.
An impromptu
raffle of donated prizes held in the Silver Maple Club at RAF Digby during
our Reunion festivities raised £220 to start our Association's Help for Heroes
Fund. The sum raised would have been greater but we ran out of raffle tickets.
Any member wishing to add a contribution to our Help for Heroes Fund should send
a cheque made out to "Ex-RAF Aerial Erectors Association" and write "Help for
Heroes
Fund" on the back of the cheque. Send your cheque to me at my usual address.
HAR Badges.
Please note this badge is not an official RAF Badge.
Ex-rigger Andy
McPherson who now resides in Malta sent me 100 HAR Blazer Badges which he wanted
to be given to all members attending the 2009 Reunion. This request has been
carried out and I now have a small number of the HAR Badges left over. I am
putting this surplus of badges up for sale on a first come first served basis
(only one badge per member). The cost of a badge is £5 plus £1 to cover postage
and packing. All the money raised will be added to the Help for Heroes Fund.
Cheques should be made payable to "Ex-RAF Aerial Erectors Association" and
write "Help for Heroes HAR Badge" on the back of your cheque. Your cheque will
be returned if the badges have sold out.
The total raised
by the 31st January was £815.
A cheque of this amount has now been dispatched
to the Help for Heroes Fund.
There still one badge available.
Our Help for
Heroes Fund will remain open and any further donations will be passed on to the
Help for Heroes Charity organisation.
Want to do
more?
Then please go to
the links page and click on the "Help for Heroes website" link and visit their
excellent website to see all the other ways you can help them to raise funds to
help our wounded Heroes.
New Year Honours
2010. Riggers from the Aerial Engineering Flight, 90 Signals Unit have
been awarded a Team Commendation by the Air Officers Commanding for their part
in Operation Brockdale, the withdrawal from Iraq.
Our congratulations to the team
members, Sgt Mark
Fletcher, Sgt Jonothan Wray, Cpl Tony Cooper, Cpl Stephan Mottershaw, SAC Cole,
SAC Corbett, SAC McManus, SAC Roberts, SAC Wallace and SAC Wood.
2008 QUEENS BIRTHDAY AWARD. Air Officers Commanding have
approved the award for their personal commendation for Meritorious
service to Corporal Scott McLean, Aerial Erector, 90 Signals Unit,
RAF Leeming.
Pingat Jasa Malaysia Award.
Ex-rigger Brian "Sailor" Luttman being presented
with his Pingat Jasa Malaysia (Malaysian Service Medal) by Colonel
Tajri Alwai on the 4th March 2008.
The above presentation
ceremony was carried out at the Norwich City Carrow Road Stadium and
was photographed and reported in the Eastern Daily Press.
The Last National Service Aerial Erector.
5081150 Ronald Milner.
The last
National Serviceman to be trained as an Aerial Erector was Ronald Milner.
Ronald successfully completed his training in June 1961 on Course 11B at the
Aerial Erector School, RAF Digby. Course 11B can be seen in the photograph
below taking a tea break on the aerial farm during their training.
Left to right,
standing:- Howard Tompkins, Tony Stratton. Middle row (seated):- Dick Hogarth,
Instructor Cpl Dave Baker, Eddie McGeechin, Ron Milner, Jock McGuiness, Taff
Latter, Colin Cooper. Seated in front:- Ken Dingwall.
My thanks to
Dick Hogarth who supplied the photograph which is thought to have been taken
by Pete Myles the only member of Course 11B who is not in this photograph.
2007 New Year Honours and Awards Four Aerial Erectors of No.1
(ERA) Squadron, Tactical Communications Wing, 90 Signals Unit at
RAF Leeming were recognised in the New Years Honours and Awards.
Warrant Officer Pete Holden
has
been awarded the
Meritorious Service Medal. Sergeant Mark Grimston has been
awarded the Air Officer Commanding in Chief 's Certificate of
Commendation. Corporal Steven Tildesley (Tactical
Communications Wing Detachment, RAF Brize Norton ) has been awarded
the Air Officer Commanding in Chief 's Certificate of Commendation.
Corporal Kevin Smith has been awarded a 90 Signals Unit Certificate
of Commendation.
Keith
"Chick" Denson's Special Appeal.
Your HELP is still needed at
PATUWATHA and DODANDUWA, SRI LANKA
Patuwatha and Dodanduwa are small communities on the west coast of
Sri Lanka, located just south of Hikaduwa and about eight miles north
of Galle. Most of the houses and the local school were destroyed
by the tsunami and the local church and the curate's quarters were
very badly damaged.
Chick and Daphne's Report February 2008
What started as a Tsunami appeal to all you generous Riggers
and friends
is now a fully fledged charity.
The name of the charity is Sri-Lanka-
Child-Care and the Charities Commission Registration Number is
1116046.
This is the next stage in our mission to help relieve
poverty, sickness and distress, the advancement of education and the
preservation and protection of the good health of the children of
Sri-Lanka.
The first goal was to help Tsunami affected children by providing them
with basic human needs. Thanks to the donations that you made we were
able to make life a little better for the children in the refugee camps.
The next goal was to provide a scholarship for 20 of the worst
affected children so that they could get back to school and receive
an education. We have been doing just that for over two years now thanks
to the generous regular sponsorship of members of the Ex- RAF Aerial
Erectors Association and other methods of fund raising.
This was just
the tip of the iceberg, so our next goal was to increase the number of
scholarships to 50 and we have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
Following a meeting with Mrs. Hazel Corteling who administered our
support scheme, we visited Sumaga Farm at Baddegama.
Sumaga Farm turned out to be a fantastic social community project. It all
started as a small college to teach life skills to young women from deprived,
mostly Tsunami related, village backgrounds.
The College runs six month residential courses to teach useful skills
such as sewing, health and hygiene, cooking, animal husbandry and organic
gardening. Students are taught to look after chickens, pigs and goats and
the manure from these animals is used to fertilize all the College
fruit and vegetable gardens. The food produced is used to feed the students
and the children attending the Day Care Centre. Any surplus meat, eggs, fruit
and vegetables are sold in the farm shop to the local people.
The Sumaga Farm Day Care Centre,
The Day Care Centre was originally set-up and funded by a German charity
which has now scaled back its support of the project and has transfered
much of its funding to an African project. Sri-Lanka Child Care and the local
Anglican Church are now providing the majority of the support for the centre.
Thus our 20 children has now grown to 220.
The 200 deprived children are aged between 3½ years and 11 years old. They
attend the Day Care Centre from 07-30 and are given breakfast, lunch and a
snack before leaving at 16-00 hrs. They all receive an education which
includes English while they are at the centre.
Some of the children enjoying their lunch under the shade
of a tree.
The Original Twenty,
Of the original 20 children, 4 have now reached the age where they are
studying for their A-levels and one is now reading Chemistry at Colombo
University.
The remaining 19 children are currently attending school in Galle, a daily
9 mile journey by bus, and are being provided with scholarship funding
by Sri-Lanka Child Care.
A laptop computer (refurbished) was purchased and was recently flown out
to Sri-Lanka and is on loan to the student studying at Colombo University
so that she can do Power Point
presentations etc as part of her studies. The laptop will be returned to
the Sumaga Farm College equipment stock once she has graduated.
Redundant Laptop Computers Chick is hoping to build up a small
stock of laptop computers which can then be loaned out to Sumaga Farm
College students while they are studying there or are successful in
getting into University. Any donated redundant laptops would be gratefully
received even ones which are not in working order. If the company you work
for is re-equipping with the latest model, he can find a home for your/their
old ones. Give him a call if you can help, details below.
Redundant Mobile Telephones.
This
Fund Raising Scheme will not cost you a penny but will have a life-changing
effect on at least 30 children in Sri-Lanka.
All you need to do is collect redundant mobile phones, look in your cupboards and drawers etc
and ask all your friends to do the same. When you have collected some
contact me and I will send you a Freepost envelope or you can send them
to our Freepost address given below. If you all do this I guarantee that
we will reach our goal by the end of the year.
SPONSOR a CHILD
We are seeking people willing to sponsor a child by making a regular
monthly donation of £6 by Standing Order. More information on sponsoring
a child can be obtained from me at the address below.
Raise Funds
Lastly,
but not least, we are
now looking to raise funds on a regular basis, perhaps by friends running fund raising events and/or by the gifting by standing order of a set amount per month.
We are looking for ideas and suggestions!!!.
If you think
you can help with our fund raising etc. contact me, Chick, using my E-mail
address :- kaydee1938@hotmail.com or telephone me on 01457 873837 or write FREEPOST RRAU-EUTK-GBTG, West View, Lawton Fold, Grotton, Oldham, OL4 4RJ
You can also
help with the project by donating money on a regular basis ( minimum £1 per
month ), donations of cash
or cheques can be sent to me at the address below.
Once again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH and please keep up the good work for the sake of the
children of Patuwatha and Dodanduwa.
BEST WISHES Daphne and Chick Denson
Cheques must be made out to "Sri-Lanka-child-Care Ltd"
Send FREEPOST RRAU-EUTK-GBTG.
Keith Denson, West View, Lawton Fold, Grotton, Oldham, OL4 4JR
Sri-Lanka Child Care now has a website at www.sri-lanka-child-care.com
Frank
Barrett
Ex-
rigger Frank Barrett has been awarded an MBE in the Queens
Birthday Honours List for services to the RAFA in the
Lincoln area. CONGRATULATIONS Frank! The Investiture
took place at Buckingham Palace on the 26th October 2004. Frank
was accompanied by his wife Jill and their two daughters
Joanne and Denise.
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