Hi, I’m ben and I work for MKM Building supplies in Weymouth. This year MKM Building Supplies Weymouth have partnered up with The Veterans Hub Weymouth to be our chosen charity partner.

We often have fundraising going on in the branch, so thought it only right I help towards this great cause.

I’ve decided to perform a nonstop 36-hour DJ set to raise money for The Veterans HUB, this will be held on 05/03/2022 0900 - 06/03/2022 21.00 at The Lugger Inn Weymouth.

Coming from a military family and having close friends that have served I know first hand what The Veterans Hub can do.

Most recently my stepdad serving with the Royal Engineers having been based in northern Ireland and the Falkland's , a close colleague of mine Jason Smith serving with the Royal Logistics Corp in Bosnia, where he tragically lost one of his legs.

One of my first memories was listening to my Great Uncle Ken who was a para trooper during WW2, where his was awarded the Legion d’Honneur for the liberation of France.

Listening to horrendous stories from My Great Uncle Pete who fought in Burma campaign. It was one of the most magnificent – and arduous – feats of arms in military history. A million men, from more than 20 nations, fighting a powerful and implacable foe through thousands of miles of intractable, malaria-ridden jungle, doggedly ploughing on, despite suffering a series of shattering early reverses.. Where he was awarded the Burma star.

Despite Dorset having one of the highest concentrations of veterans in the UK there is, sadly, a distinct lack of veteran orientated support services in the county, especially regarding the mental and physical health side of things. Because of this fact, we set this project up and very quickly were almost overwhelmed with the number of veterans, and their family members, coming to us in the hopes of finding support and reassurance through people from a similar background. In July 2018 Andy and 2 others made the decision to take the project full-time following several tragic veteran suicides over a very short period in our area of operations. We can’t say for sure that if we had been a full-time project at the time of these former soldiers taking their own lives that things would have been different for them, however we do strongly believe that by being open to veterans 6 days a week that we have made a difference to some that potentially could have chosen the same path. Essentially, we are saying to veterans and their families that they are not alone and that there is a whole ‘military’ family out there that will dig out for them.

Thank you for all your support.