This year, the Barratt Developments 2018 ASPIRE Graduate Cohort are incredibly excited to be fundraising in celebration of 100 years of the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI). The RBLI enable vulnerable veterans, those who have disabilities and those who are unemployed to take positive steps to leading independent lives.

Each graduate has pledged to raise £1,000 and so to help meet my promise, I'll be jumping out of a plane at 15,000ft (ahhh!!!) on Sunday 19th May. Our fundraising efforts will go towards:

- The design and delivery of a therapeutic, sensory, dementia friendly garden at Gavin Astor House Nursing Home at the RBLI village in Kent.
- The renovation of an existing RBLI property to provide additional accommodation to veterans and their families.

There are currently 850,000 people in the UK diagnosed with dementia and I am all-too familiar with the impacts it has on both the patients and their families. Just like my grandad, who is currently in residential care with dementia, many of the residents at Gavin Astor House took immense pride in their gardens before becoming ill and moving to a nursing home. Since delivering the news to the Gavin Astor House residents that we will be creating a beautiful new garden suited to their needs, they are all so unbelievably grateful and excited.

Thank you for taking the time to read about our fundraising efforts and I hope you get a sense of how much this project means to us. Having visited the RBLI village and witnessing first-hand the incredible work they do, we feel so lucky to be supporting such a wonderful charity.  With your help, we hope to make a difference to the lives of those who the RBLI support.

Your support is genuinely hugely appreciated,

Caroline