UPDATE 10 MARCH 2010
First up, a huge thank you to each and every one of you who has donated with such spectacular generosity. It is hugely appreciated. At First Base we try to work on different levels. To be honest, when all is said and done, we are a small charity in a small town. We do our best to help all the clients who come through our doors and most of the time we are pretty successful. But we also like to try and make a larger impact when we can: punch above our weight if you like. For a year now we have been supporting veterans suffering the misery of PTSD. We won an award from Veterans Scotland to produce our fourth book – ‘Afterwards’, which tells the stories of three Scottish soldiers whose lives became a nightmare once they took off their uniforms. Our goal was to show the reader what PTSD actually looks like when you stare it in the face. The three guys who told their stories with such withering honesty did so out of a sense of duty. None of them found much help when the nightmares and flashbacks started to take over their lives. Instead they suffered alone, choosing only the solace of the bottle. They allowed us to tell their stories so that future generations of soldiers might have more support than they have received.
Six hundred and fifty key names on our address list were every MP in the House of Commons. Well, as you can see from the mailbags in the photo, delivery was made early this week. We handed the books over to Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox MP on a visit arranged by Colonel Bob Stewart. You might remember Bob – he was the call a spade a spade guy who got right into the Serbs’ faces in in the 90’s. Happily Bob still calls a spade a spade and let’s hope that never changes once he enters the Commons himself as MP for Beckenham. Bob is President of a campaigning outfit called ‘Action for Armed Forces’ who specialise in taking direct action on behalf of squaddies and ex squaddies. They do stuff like chaining themselves to the railings. Typical young tearaways. You can see one of them in the second picture. George. He’s the one in the middle with the sand coloured beret and the chest full of medals. Want a potted biography? Tough, you’re getting one whether you like it or not. George joined the Sherwood Forresters in 1936 and four years later he found himself on the beach at . He got a ride on a destroyer and the destroyer got sunk. Thankfully the next boat made it back across the Channel. He was one of the first to join the newly formed SAS and jumped with the Paras at . He was captured and sent to a POW camp. He escaped. He was captured and sent to another POW camp. He escaped again. As he made his way through he bumped into the French Foreign Legion coming the other way. Wanna join George? Sure, why the hell not. He fought with the Legion all the way to the end of the war. Last year he was furious with the army. He was determined to jump out of a plane to celebrate the 65 anniversary of . They told him no. Why the hell not? Well George, the thing is you might get killed. Funny how nobody worried too much about that the first time around. George is 89 now and still up for the fight. For all of us it was an honour to have him with us.
The big guy in the brown leather jacket is Willie. His is the first story in the book and he did the hand over. That was pretty special too. When I first met Willie in homeless accommodation in Livingstone, the idea of heading down to seemed about as likely as travelling to Mars. Well, we all got there in the end and we were given the opportunity to say what we had to say. Will it make a difference? We hope so. There are 650 books to be read. It is actually pretty encouraging when an itsy bitsy charity like First Base can get a half hour slot with the guy the bookies think is odds on to be the next Secretary of State for Defence. I guess we have the likes of George to thank for that. The trip meant hotel rooms and taxis and other expenses. Thanks to this page, we were able to cover these costs. Hopefully we will have managed to make a difference.
SO WHO ARE WE?
The First Base Agency is a small, independent charity based in , South West Scotland. We run a wide variety of projects, all of which are seeing increasing demand as the recession deepens. We support families affected by a loved one’s drug and alcohol misuse, young women at risk of violence and veterans drinking or taking drugs to blot out memories of battle. Every year we give drug and alcohol awareness presentations to over 2500 school pupils and issue over a thousand emergency food parcels to those in need.
Right now we have a financial problem and we hope you can help. As a part of a severe regime of cost cutting, our local Council has withdrawn the £10,000 funding they have awarded to us every year since 2003. We are finding it really hard to plug the gap this has left in our finances.We have resolved to try and tackle the problem in the style of a church roof appeal. It is unlikely in the current climate that we will find one or two large funders to make up the lost £10,000. Instead we are asking as many people as we possibly can for a donation. We have written to local businesses. We are giving presentations to local groups – last week we raised £150 from the Rotary Club and one of the town’s golf clubs. £9850 to go! Of course we have cut any cost that is cut-able. We have always prided ourselves on keeping the cost of running The First Base Agency as low as possible, and we have now reduced our annual running costs by 20% to £75,000.
Any award you might be able to make to us will make a difference. I think the enclosed letter will tell you a lot about the way we work. It is written by one of our young female clients. We were able to help her to turn around her life and now she is giving back to the community by going into schools to pass on the hard lessons she has learned. Our services made a difference to her and her family, and now she is making a difference herself.
Thank you so much for taking the time to consider us. To find about more about what we do visit us at www.first-base.org.
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
