Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Please will you help me support serving military patients recovering from injury and illness at the UK Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre?

Those of you who have known me for a long time, know that I have raised money for wounded veterans of the British armed forces on several occasions.  I’m at it again, now that I’ve retired, but with a different focus and a very different challenge.

I’m taking on a new challenge to raise funds for the military patients receiving state-of-the-art rehabilitation care to help them recover from injury and illness at Stanford Hall in Nottinghamshire.   The new, purpose-built residential centre provides holistic medical and occupational treatment and social integration opportunities to the patients. (https://www.forces.net/news/uk/first-look-inside-new-ps300m-defence-rehabilitation-centre)

The Ministry of Defence funds the facilities and the basic care that the patients receive, but the DMRC Benevolent Fund provides financial support to both extend and accelerate the rehabilitation recovery of these serving members of the Army, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Air Force. (https://dmrcbenfund.org.uk/about-us/)

The DMRC Benevolent Fund assists the patients by working with each one to achieve their individual goals, helping them to greater levels of independence, confidence, and ultimately the best quality of life after injury or illness.  The benevolent fund needs support because the centre now has as many patients on-site as at the height of the UK’s involvement in operations in Afghanistan.

All the money raised for the DMRC Benevolent Fund - every pound, dollar or euro - goes directly to the welfare and rehabilitation care of the DMRC patients at Stanford Hall.  

I know that each patient at Stanford Hall is facing a much greater challenge than I ever have.  To help them, I wanted to push myself with a very different kind of challenge than I have tried before.  So, despite a life-long fear of drowning and just a few months sailing practice, I’m going to help crew the Angela, a 15m (50 ft) sailing boat, across 1600 kms (1000 miles) of the Atlantic Ocean, from the Azores to NW Spain.  I’m paying all my costs, so whatever you can donate will go directly to the DMRC Benevolent Fund.

The voyage will take us about ten days - depending on the weather - and we’ll be out of sight of land for nearly all of them.  

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Thank you for your support for these deserving men and women,

John