We are delighted to award a £20,000 grant to Waterloo Uncovered towards its archaeology programmes promoting soldiers’ mental health.
Waterloo Uncovered is a groundbreaking archaeological excavation of the historic battlefield in Belgium. Since the battle’s 200th anniversary in 2015, soldiers and former soldiers have undertaken archaeology activities and received welfare support across three programmes: Excavation, Finds, and Battlefields Uncovered. Many beneficiaries have service-related injuries or mental health conditions; the programmes harness archaeology to help them recover, engage socially, feel less lonely, and learn new skills.
Our grant will partly fund the operating costs of the 2024 excavation programme and other activities, which will support 70 veterans and serving personnel.
Abigail Boyle, Chief Executive, Waterloo Uncovered, said:
“We are delighted to have received a generous grant of £20,000 from the Army Benevolent Fund, which will allow us to support a new group of veterans and serving personnel on our Excavation Programme when we return to the Waterloo Battlefield this summer. We are extremely grateful to ABF for their continued support of our programmes and our efforts to help members of the Armed Forces community achieve recovery through discovery.”
Brigadier (Ret’d) Peter Monteith, Chief Operating Officer, Army Benevolent Fund, added:
“This is a fascinating initiative about exploring Britain’s military past to help soldiers past and present recover from life-changing mental and physical injuries and promote team comradeship and a spirit of accomplishment. Following previous ABF grants, we are pleased to provide funding again for this year’s programme.”
Read more about Waterloo Uncovered here.