<strong>The</strong> Tommy Atkins Centre Tommy Atkins Centre August Hello from a very sunny Worcester. We’re all making the most of the glorious sunshine here, though I have to confess that Pablo & I went to the Upton Blues Festival last Friday evening and the rain came down pretty heavily for over an hour. Typical!! Pablo, Dr Jonathan Leach and I did our bit for Operation WAMITS too by taking a walk along the SAS route of the Fan Dance on Sunday 15th. I’m pleased to say I was sensible and only tackled the first hill, though once I’d recovered enough I managed to get up and down it twice. Pablo & Jonathan completed somewhere in the region of ten miles each of the SAS route (I’m really not jealous!!) It’s been fairly quiet at the centre this month, though we have had a Peer Mentoring group with Combat Stress, and have another on 31st July. Combat Stress have also run several meetings here too, and I’ve assisted a homeless veteran in finding a permanent home. We’ve had an awful lot of support too from our Worcester Breakfast Club members who dug deeply in their pockets and purchased some Jacqueline Hurley prints kindly donated to us to raise funds, along with some pens and keyrings from Woody Turner. To date, thanks to their generosity were on social media to let veterans know t have raised £165, so thank you guys and girls. Very much appreciated. I’ve been keeping a keen eye out on social media for missing veterans, and pleas for help. If you want to do your bit please take part in our Operation WAMITS campaign, take a video or photo’s as you walk and post to social media to let veterans in your area know where they can go to find help. Well people, don’t forget to slap on plenty of sun screen if you venture out anywhere, until next time stay safe, and please, please, please get the message out there on social media to let people (not just veterans) know where your local veterans can go to find help if they need it. Jane xx www.sandbagtimes.co.uk/tommyatkinscentre Over <strong>The</strong> Hills And Far Away... Pablo & Dr Jonathan Leach Kick Off OP WAMITS With A Jaunt Over Pen Y Fan A warm, sunny Sunday morning in July was the perfect setting for the SBT Editor and NHS Veterans Lead, england to take a nice stroll over the beautiful Brecon Beacons in Wales accompanied by Jonathan’s faithful hound, Jessie. Heart disease and aged quite a few more years. <strong>The</strong> last 500 metres of the climb was definitely the worst but I battled on until we climbed the last little struggle to the summit of Corn Du. A swift walk across to the next peak and we were there. Fun and suffering aside please do not forget what we did it for. OP WAMITS. We posted on social media, we got our message out to veterans in our area, now it’s your turn! Armed with all of the mountain walking kit I could muster, first aid kit, chocky bars, water pack, more chocky bars, emergency bad weather kit (Yeah, really needed that!), even more chocky bars, and anything else I could think of all wrapped up in my gucci little day sack, we set off for the day, driven to Wales by our old mate, Uncle Trevor with Jonathan and Jessie following close behind. Conditions truly could not have been any better. On arrival, very keenly, we had a little stretch and then set off. Within about 20 paces past the famed phone box, I regretted making the decision of returning to an old stomping ground from years before. But soldier on we must. And we did. It was a very painful experience, I must admit. It had been some years since I had walked the Fan, I had recovered from GET HELP NOW: Tommy Atkins Centre 01905 27825 | 16 www.sandbagtimes.co.uk
BRAND NEW Patron to <strong>The</strong> Tommy Atkins Centre