A BRADFORD hospital is inviting its patients who are veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces, along with their families to a celebration event.
The event on Friday, June 28, takes place a day before Armed Forces Day, which each year falls on the last Saturday in June and is being held at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI), part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, from noon.
The Trust’s Armed Forces Champion is Fiona Mattison, who previously served as a Senior Aircraft Woman in the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1986 to 2000 when she did tours of duty in Cyprus and Germany.
She said: “The event is an opportunity to show support for and celebrate the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community, from currently serving personnel to service families, veterans and cadets.
“We know that across our family of hospitals, we have a number of patients who are veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces and we would love for them and their families to join hospital staff at this gathering.
“Showing support for the Armed Forces provides a much-valued morale boost for serving personnel, veterans and their families.”
A ‘guest of honour’ at the event will be 92-year-old ex-paratrooper and veteran fundraiser Jeffrey Long MBE, who served with the 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion, and has been fundraising since 2007, completing dozens of charity hikes and raising thousands of pounds for a number of charities.
Last year, Mr Long took on the challenge of walking 101 laps of Bradford’s Centenary Square, the equivalent of 25 miles, in support of Bradford Hospitals Charity, raising more than £1,300 for the Trust’s ‘Big Neonatal Appeal’ to build a ‘home-from-home’ for families with babies born too early or sick and who are cared for in the hospital’s neonatal unit.
The charity organise a café selling tea, coffee, biscuits etc and there will also be a raffle. Music and entertainment will be provided by BRI’s hospital radio station, Radio Royal, along with pianist, Rita Bairstow.
The Trust is accredited as a Veteran Aware organisation, formally recognising its commitment to the Armed Forces community.
Accreditation was carried out by the Veterans Covenant Healthcare Alliance (VCHA), which is a group of NHS healthcare providers in England.
A key part of the Trust’s Veteran Aware plan is to recruit veterans as volunteers within the Trust, to meet and greet patients from the armed forces community and provide advice and support if required.
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