Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 10th November I participated in this fundraising event in memory of my maternal grandfather, Walter Gittings (1891-1957) - who served in and survived both world wars.  I have included information about his military service in an update (lower down this page) and  on the 11th September I changed my page image to show a photograph of Walter, surrounded by the beautiful embroidered postcards, or billets doux, he sent to my grandmother, Henrietta ('Lettie') during WW1.  They married in 1913, lived in Birmingham and had four daughters, of whom my mother (1922-2002) was the third.

I visited Alabaré's offices in Salisbury earlier this year - for their AGM and awards celebration.  Alabaré is a wonderful charity working with the vulnerable and homeless.  During the afternoon they promoted their fundraising event in November....and I volunteered to take part.  I promised to raise/donate a minimum of around £400 and have exceeded that amount, but ideally hope to reach or even exceed my £1000 target!  I had never done anything like this before; I found the prospect exciting...and actually, although I had expected panic to set in eventually, the excitement continued throughout.  Here is the welcome email I received from Alabaré - I hope it will encourage you to sponsor me for this worthy cause.

Dear Bernice,

Thank you so much for agreeing to do the Alabaré Homes for Veterans WW1 commemorative skydive! It’s great to have you all as part of the team. The skydive is on Saturday 10^th November 2018 and will be commemorating 100 years since the end of World War One at Old Sarum Airfield (an original WW1 airfield).

By participating in this event, you are helping homeless and vulnerable Veterans like Tony;

Tony served for 25 years in the Royal Navy. He saw active service in Iraq, Sierra Leone and the Gulf; the experiences of war changed his life dramatically. After returning home from each tour, Tony became more and more depressed and found life very hard. He became frequently nervous of loud bangs. His wellbeing continued to deteriorate, spending more and more time indoors and finding comfort in alcohol.

After the breakdown of his marriage, Tony decided the best way forward for him was to leave the Navy and try to get himself sorted out. However, he found himself without a home and with no one to turn to. Luckily, he was given a place in our accommodation for homeless and vulnerable Veterans.

At first, Tony still struggled with his depression and found it hard to quit drinking to calm his nerves. Undeterred, our team helped Tony to work on these issues. He began going for runs in the mornings and enjoyed cooking for the other Veterans in the house.

After just 6 months living with Alabaré, Tony was completely transformed. He had a full time job and had even been on a residential detox programme to address his alcohol dependency. Tony felt independent enough to move on from the home. Our staff helped him find a new home and moved him in.

Tony is now settled in a place of his own where he has a great network of friends surrounding him.

“Without Alabaré I don’t think I would be here. They were there for me when I needed help. I can’t thank them enough.”

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.