St Dunstan’s receives £1 million from Help for Heroes towards the Capital Appeal at Its New North Wales Rehabilitation and Training Centre

Source: St Dunstan's

20 Jul 10

St Dunstan’s, the national charity that provides lifelong support to blind Service and ex-Service personnel, has been awarded a £1 million donation by Help for Heroes. The generous donation was made in response to a Capital Appeal to raise £4 million for the construction of an extension at St Dunstan’s new rehabilitation and training Centre in Llandudno.

The Centre, which will open in the autumn of 2011, will enable St Dunstan’s to continue in its work to support ex-Service men and women who have served in the Armed Forces and lost their sight due to war, age, accident or illness. It will also be a centre of excellence providing world class rehabilitation and training to War Blind Service personnel injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. The extension will contain 10 high dependency nursing beds, along with a rehabilitation gym, sports room and training kitchens.

We are honoured to accept the £1 million donation from Help for Heroes. We look forward to building our relationship with Help for Heroes as we work together to ensure the best support is provided to wounded service personnel now and in the future. To reinforce the importance of this partnership we will name the gym after Help for Heroes. Thanks to the generosity of Help for Heroes and their supporters we are able to move forward with the construction of the extension. The addition of the high dependency nursing facilities is essential to ensure St Dunstan’s can support more Service and ex-Service people with damaged sight, regardless of their other injuries. This is especially important for those returning from today’s conflicts, given their extensive injuries associated with counter-insurgency operations. As with our older war blinded beneficiaries, the services we provide are for life.

Robert Leader, Chief Executive

St Dunstan’s currently provides a service to almost 5000 people, across the UK, with the number set to increase with a further 650 new beneficiaries in 2010/11. With the demand for St Dunstan’s Centres in East Sussex and Sheffield under increasing pressure the Centre in Llandudno will be of immense benefit to those St Dunstan’s supports, especially people who live in Wales and the north west of England.

Bryn Parry, co-founder and chief executive of Help for Heroes said, “H4H is delighted to be able donate £1 million to kick start St Dunstan’s Capital Appeal at its new Rehabilitation and Training Centre. The work St Dunstan does is crucial and we at H4H are thrilled to be able to contribute to their appeal. While we accept that war is brutal and people get hurt, we can all work together to ensure that the wounded and their relatives get the speedy support and opportunities they so richly deserve.”

To help St Dunstan’s support more blind Service and ex-Service men and women, make a donation to them by logging on to: www.st-dunstans.org.uk/h4h or telephone: 0300 111 2233.

For further information or to speak to a spokesperson, please contact: Catherine Goodier at St Dunstan’s on T: 020 7616 8367 M: 07872 840117 or email Catherine.goodier@st-dunstans.org 

For Help for Heroes please contact Kitty Dimbleby on T: 01725 514276 M: 07590 984488 or email: kitty.dimbleby@helpforheroes.org.uk