Last night, we welcomed guests to The Courthouse Hotel in London to witness the launch of our new charity film. It was an evening charged with good cheer and festive merriment, as we celebrated another year of life-changing support for soldiers, veterans and their families.
Guests came for a welcome drink before heading to the screening room to hear Martin Rutledge, Chief Executive of ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, give an overview of the charity’s work in 2018 and pay homage to our incredible supporters who’ve done so much for the charity this year.
Next up was the premiere of our new film, featuring the stories of three inspirational beneficiaries: Sallie, the wife of a veteran taken hostage by Al-Qaeda; Mark, who lost a leg in a training accident in Canada; and Ciaran, who has been helped into employment through our funding to The Poppy Factory. We were delighted to have many of the amazing people featured in the film with us for the evening.
We took the opportunity to showcase another film – one of our individual stories – and kicked off by hearing from WO2 Karly Bond, fiancée of Mark Stevens, who was the star of the film. Karly gave an inspirational and emotional speech about her fiancé’s experiences battling PTSD, and how The Soldiers’ Charity stepped in to give him a hand up to launch his outdoor activity business.
When both the films were over, there was barely a dry eye in the house. The audience commented that the films took them on an emotional rollercoaster, leaving them feeling uplifted and thankful for The Soldiers’ Charity’s hard work.
We would like to thank everyone who came to the event last night – we hoped you enjoyed it as much as we did.
If we don’t see you before, have a very Merry Christmas.