SSAFA

Whether it’s your first time or your sixth, our 10-mile 13 Bridges Challenge through #London on 27 June continues to stand out as a one-of-a-kind celebration of #ArmedForcesDay, now with an iconic finish by the river in #BatterseaPark! Sign up today at fundraise.ssafa.org.uk/event/13-bridg…

📰 Colleagues at @SSAFA’s @GHelpingHeroes have welcomed the Minister of State for the #ArmedForces, @AlistairCarns MP, to visit their office in #Glasgow, following a successful bid for transformative VALOUR funding ▸ ssaf.as/1IK

📰 Dedicated volunteers who have gone above and beyond to support the Armed Forces community were honoured at @SSAFA’s recent East Yorkshire Annual General Meeting, held at RAF Leconfield near #Beverley ▸ ssaf.as/1II

Fans of #WW2 nostalgia are being invited to travel back in time as @SSAFA #Durham presents Victory Bells, an evening of music and memories inspired by the 1940s. The event takes place at #WestAuckland Memorial Hall on Friday 15 May at 7pm.

"It was the worst time of his life, and then SSAFA came along and completely transformed it." 📰 #Edinburgh dad and serving soldier, Tam Meighan, 39, is taking on @UltraScotland, in tribute to @SSAFA’s support for his big brother and Iraq veteran, John ▸ ssaf.as/1IH

"I've had a wonderful life, seen a great deal of the world and met some extraordinary people along the way." 🎂 It is @SSAFA's privilege to know Lt Col Christopher Hutchinson and to be able to help mark his 104th birthday. Many happy returns, Christopher! hexham-courant.co.uk/news/26086475.…

This week is #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. For serving personnel and their families, life is full of challenges, and good #mentalhealth is not a constant. @SSAFA's RAF Personal Support & Social Work Service team has got your back. Visit us on-station or via ssafa.org.uk/raf

'Dedicated volunteers who have gone above and beyond to support the armed forces community were honoured at @SSAFA’s East Yorkshire Annual General Meeting' via @hullisthis hullisthis.news/ssafa-east-yor…

Hurry, there's still time to join us for Scotland's biggest charity fundraising event @thekiltwalk in #Aberdeen on Sunday 7 June 2026! @SSAFA supporters can sign up for free today at ssaf.as/kilwalkaberdee…

Although it might not make the news, there is never a time that UK Armed Forces personnel, including those of the @RoyalAirForce, are not deployed somewhere in the world. @SSAFA RAF Welfare Officer, Rebekah Marshall, writes on understanding the challenges of overseas deployment. ssaf.as/1IG

💷 Last week's @SSAFA lottery saw 28 winners! 👀 Check today to see if you were a lucky one! For as little as £1 per week, you can enter the SSAFA Lottery, with a chance of winning £10,000, and help us support the UK's Armed Forces community ▸ ssaf.as/lottery2026

🚁 #Somerset’s family-favourite Military History Weekend event at #TheHelicopterMuseum, Weston-super-Mare - home to the world’s largest collection of helicopters - saw 1,600 visitors across the two days, with @SSAFA as its dedicated charity ▸ ssaf.as/1IF

Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your colleagues, bring the dog! See the sights of #London at your own pace in @SSAFA's fully accessible 10-mile 13 Bridges Challenge on #ArmedForcesDay, Saturday 27 June 2026. fundraise.ssafa.org.uk/event/13-bridg…

Take on @SSAFA's Ride to Monte Cassino on 1-5 October 2026, a fully supported 3-day, 240-mile cycling challenge, starting in Naples, that blends powerful military history with spectacular Italian scenery. 🚵 ssaf.as/montecassino

Capture yourselves for posterity on Millennium Bridge on Saturday 27 June 2026! Our 13 Bridges Challenge on #ArmedForcesDay is a fully-accessible 10-mile walk for everyone, with a glorious finish by the River Thames in #BatterseaPark. fundraise.ssafa.org.uk/event/13-bridg…

During the Blitz, homes were hurriedly left. By #VEDay on 8 May 1945, @SSAFA's clothing branch, first set up in 1890, had 300 local depots and hundreds of volunteers knitting and sewing all over the UK. During the war, 4,250,000 garments and 175,000 pairs of footwear were distributed. #WW2

Today is the 81st anniversary of #VEDay. We honour all those servicemen and women who served in #WW2, and the sacrifices made. To those who gave so much, we thank you.

🏎️ Kent resident John Hannan is taking part in @A_Driving_Force 2026 in his beloved 2001 Subaru Impreza World Rally Championship Replica ▸ ssaf.as/1IE #ADF26 involves an 11-day driving adventure to Bosnia between 1-11 August, hoping to raise £100k for @SSAFA.

We are saddened this week to hear news of the death of Major (Ret’d) George Givens, aged 75. George joined @SSAFA as a caseworker in 2013 and was a former Chair of SSAFA Fife. In July 2024, George was awarded the Sir James Gildea Global Award, presented at SSAFA’s Annual Members’ Meeting in London by His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, SSAFA’s President (photo). Liverpool-born George had a long career in the @BritishArmy, beginning as a 15-year-old cadet in the Liverpool Scottish Army Cadet Force. He enlisted as a junior soldier, going on to spend the next two years at the Infantry Junior Leaders Battalion, Oswestry, before being posted to the Queen’s Own Highlanders, which at the time was stationed in Edinburgh. George took up the story, saying: "Being a Scouser in the Queen’s Own Highlanders was not unusual at the time, given the close links that the Battalion had with the Liverpool Scottish [a Territorial Battalion of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders]. "I rose through the ranks, eventually being selected for promotion to Warrant Officer First Class, and after a spell as Garrison Sergeant Major at Edinburgh Castle, I took on the role Regimental Sergeant Major of the Queen’s Own Highlanders, the first Scouser ever to do so." In 1990, he was selected for a Late Entry Commission and became the Battalion’s Motor Transport Officer (MTO). During Operation Granby – the campaign to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi forces – he commanded the A1 Echelon of the Armoured Delivery Group in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. On return to Germany, George assumed the role of Unit Families Officer, looking after the welfare of the battalion’s families, a task in which he acquired the ability to handle sensitive welfare matters in a sympathetic and empathetic manner, skills vital to his later role as a SSAFA Caseworker. George’s final job in the Army was as the Officer Commanding Headquarter Company of the Royal Scots. He retired in 1996 as a Major, having seen service during the previous 30 years throughout the UK, Sharjah, Germany, Hong Kong, Belize, Kenya, and the USA – including five operational tours of Northern Ireland and one operational tour in the Gulf. After retiring from the Army, George found employment within the NHS as a Practice Manager at a busy general practice in Fife, eventually taking early retirement in 2013 after 17 years in the post. Not wanting to sit idle and wishing to give something back to the service community, George decided to volunteer for SSAFA. He subsequently became a volunteer caseworker and five years later, in 2018, was asked to take over as the Branch Chair of SSAFA Fife, one of the busiest branches in Scotland, and home to one of the largest army bases in Scotland. In 2023, Jayne Smith, one of the regular volunteer presenters on @k107radio (#Kirkcaldy's Community Radio) grilled George about the history of SSAFA, its work for the service community, how to volunteer, and the importance that fundraising has for the charity (photo). As a caseworker for SSAFA, George had more than 200 cases – families and individuals helped – under his belt. He said in 2024: "I still do regular casework, so I know those that we help, either regulars, veterans, or their families, remain eternally grateful for all the hard work that our SSAFA volunteers carry out on their behalf, and I am so honoured to be part of this great organisation that’s a significant cog in providing support and advice to the Armed Forces community." Walter Gallacher, SSAFA’s Scotland Regional Chair and Convenor of the Scottish Resource Committee, said: "George was a dedicated and valued volunteer and as kind, thoughtful, and generous a person as you could hope to meet. "He will be much missed within the SSAFA family and wider veteran community. George changed the lives of many for the better. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time." We send our condolences to George's family, friends and his colleagues at SSAFA Fife. Thank you for your lifetime of service, Major Givens. George's funeral service will be held at Dunfermline Crematorium on Friday 15 May at 14:00. Family flowers only, please. Donations, if desired, may be made to SSAFA.

💷 Last week's @SSAFA lottery saw 26 winners! 👀 Check today to see if you were a lucky one! For as little as £1 per week, you can enter the SSAFA Lottery, with a chance of winning £10,000, and help us support the UK's Armed Forces community ▸ ssaf.as/lottery2026