A NEW drop-in centre, offering a lifeline to Armed Forces Veterans, is to be officially opened on Saturday (April 2) at a Poole church.
The drop-in facility at St Mary’s Church, Longfleet, offers veterans a place to meet fellow veterans while enjoying a hot drink and bacon butties.
The Mayor of Poole, Councillor Julie Bagwell, will join the official opening at 10.15am, when she will cut a celebration cake and meet veterans and volunteers.
Volunteers from the church started running the drop in mornings once a month in September 2021, offering a meeting place for the armed forces community in Poole.
One of the church volunteers behind the centre, Homfray Vines, said when a person leaves the Armed Forces the support of an armed forces chaplain is no longer available and churches needed to step up to provide support, especially for those suffering from the traumas of war.
St Mary’s, Longfleet is one of the first churches in the country to become an AFCU Veteran Friendly Church. Initially it is establishing an Armed Forces and Veterans Drop-in centre, operating on the first Saturday morning of the month in its Church Centre.
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