Supporting the Brave and Inspirational
Supporting the Brave and Inspirational
The Hospitality Industry is very good and effective at supporting it’s own and we hope we play our role in supporting the key industry charities that we work with. But there is a wider community that we work with too and one of our areas of focus is to look beyond industry boundaries and how we can work with communities and issues at large. As part of this process, we are delighted to announce a new partnership with Absolute Challenges in support of the Help for Heroes charity.
Help for Heroes possess many inspirational stories of self sacrifice and bravery and Absolute Challenges, an organisation run by a serving senior British army officer, is dedicated to raising money for their cause.
10th July – Help for Heroes Dinner on HMS VictoryThis is a rare opportunity to dine on board the gun deck of one of England’s most famous ships in the company of members of the “ Band of Brothers and Sisters” who have been wounded in action and to hear their inspirational stories at first hand. Now in its sixth year, it is a truly memorable event. Absolute Challenges have set aside a limited number of tickets for EP and our readers who would like to experience this unique dinner.27th-9th JulyA team fled by Absolute Challenges and incorporating representatives of Help For Heros and EP are cycling from the Nato base in Naples to Tedworth House in Wiltshire ( the spiritual home of H4H ) to raise funds for the charity. Covering 1100 miles in ten days, full details of the ride and the route are available at Absolute Challenges.Please contact Arlene McCaffrey to learn more about these initiatives and to get involved with these events.Andy Grant's storyAndy Grant, a wounded warrior, shared his story and how Help for Heroes has supported him after his accident.
Andy heard two explosions before seeing his friend thrown 120 metres and feeling the force of the two IEDs that had been triggered. Andy’s initial fear was that he had been blown far from his colleagues but he couldn’t see because of the dust in his eyes. He said: “I was screaming but not because of the pain. It was a fear of the unknown.” Thankfully, men nearby quickly put a life-saving tourniquet on Andy’s leg to stop the bleeding.Suffering 27 injuries, Andy woke up two weeks later from a medically induced coma, in Birmingham, at Selly Oak Hospital. He spent the next 18 months in and out of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre, also known as Headley Court, in Surrey where he began to adjust to life with his injuries.
With wounds to his right leg not healing as well as expected, Andy faced a life-changing and agonising decision — to have an amputation or live with a debilitating limp. After endless consultations with his doctor, friends and family, Andy, 22, had his leg amputated, just below the knee on 25 November 2010.He was discharged after five days and headed home to his partner Leonie and children, Payton and Brooke, in Liverpool.Through H4H, Andy rebuilt his confidence by taking part in adaptive sports and he began a new career in motivational speaking. H4H supported him with the setup costs, including training and marketing.Andy is so grateful for the support he has received, thanks to your donations to H4H: “Since being injured there is one charity that has been there for me right from the beginning, through the good times and bad. Help for Heroes has done so much for me, my family and my friends who have also been injured.”For more information or to get involved with the community, please contact Nicole Thompson