Blog from the founder of the charity Little Troopers. Military wife and mum sharing thoughts and feelings of being a British Armed Forces family.

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all children with parents serving in the British Armed Forces, regular or reserve. We provide fundamental resources, initiatives and events to ease and aid repeated separation periods aiming to keep parent and child connected and bonded even when miles apart
Showing posts with label bfbs news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bfbs news. Show all posts

29 Dec 2011

Christmas Party for 288 - MISSION COMPLETE

As you have read we formed in the summer of 2011 after our Snowdon trek in February 2011 the first event Linda and I really wanted to have was a huge Christmas Party, a special day where we as British Army families could get together, be a community, have some fun and celebrate what we belonged to...never did we dream it would be as amazing as it was!










Lots of hard work, late nights, emails and phone calls asking for help...and not a penny of funding and the results were fantastic!




The donations from companies and organisations blew us away and it would not have been possible with out them





288 people came together on 21st December 2011 at The Victory Services Club, all something to do with the British Army with 179 of those being children of soldiers' some had dads or mums away this Christmas some were lucky enough to have them at home this year but everyone was was wearing a smile.


Carol singers greeted everyone, Santa awaited, Major General Norton got the party started, dancing happened, crafts were completed, a tombola was sold out and faces were painted there was a buzz in the room like no other.



I remember taking 2 minutes and looking down at all the children having the best time all smiling and giggling and thinking this makes it all worth it, this is what we wanted to achieve!



This photo is why:




The day drew to a close Linda and I shed a fair few tears...of joy, happiness and tiredness I think! We had to pinch ourselves a little...WE DID IT! On our own and with no money, so many people though we were taking on too much, it wasn't possible...we proved them wrong!



The comments we have received since the event have been heartwarming and so appreciated so thank you all for those and thank you for coming and being a part of the day.


We have so many plans for 2012 and we welcome you on the ride into next year and more events with My Daddy is a Soldier Adventures for The Little Troopers at Home... xx



Do check out these links:




25 Apr 2011

End of the trek chapter...

15th April 2011 and the 'My daddy is a soldier trek 2011' adventure comes to a close for the girlies..... and us!! Months of hard work, planning and fundraising came together when we visited Help for Heroes HQ to hand in the total donations.

The final totals were:

£4988.79p donated to Help for Heroes, check out this link to see how that money is spent: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/how_we_spend.html The girls received a medal and certificate for their efforts and many memories to take away!!



£500 was donated to HomeFront Forces http://www.homefrontforces.org/ this will help the 'Your Family' page to be launched, Madison is patron of this charity and we are so excited for when the site is functioning and children with a parent deployed will have a communication tool!

BFBS Radio came down and chatted to the girlies and were excited to hear the progress as they have followed the journey from the beginning!
Hear the piece here:
http://www.bfbs.com/news/uk/three-forces-children-complete-snowden-trek-charity-46735.html



A massive thank you to each and every single person that donated, you made these amounts what they were...a truely amazing experience, amazing amounts raised and amazing the support we all received.

THANK YOU to all involved, Lots of love The Little Trekkers xxxx

28 Mar 2011

Post trek media.....

Trek complete and the press requests came flooding in from people wanting to know how the girls did, it is so fabulous how people have connected with the little girls and their story and this adventure they have been on over the last 3 months or so....and so the journey continues....

Isabella has been very busy!!!!

http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/8913455.Girl__seven__tackles_Snowden/

http://www.spirefm.co.uk/news/review.php?article=385345

with also an interview with Garrison FM.

Madison and Victoria did a live phone interview with BFBS Radio which broadcast all over the world...even Afghanistan so hopefully the daddys managed to listen live!!!



Camberley News and Mail also followed up on the story they had covered in the training stages...

Donations continue to come in and we will be presenting the money back to Help for Heroes in April, the girls can not wait!!!

7 Mar 2011

A daddy returns to Afghanistan...

Two weeks (just under) of rest leave flys by...you long for it to arrive and then it is over. The first week can be unsettling with the second week often being the best week you have had for months! We had a ball and squeezed as much in as possible including some filming!


Madison & Daddy at Ludlow Castle
BFBS News came and we recorded a lovely little piece which I think we will treasure forever, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Sue Kinnear the reporter at BFBS who truely is fantastic, heres the piece:
http://www.bfbs.com/news/uk/forces-children-take-mountain-challenge-help-heroes-44690.html

The seperation cycle starts all over again...as you near the end of the two weeks.....theres nothing you can do, it is out of your control, they are going back.
Listening to him read the last bedtime story of the two weeks is heartbreaking with Madison whispering 'I don't want you to go daddy' and griping on for dear life for minutes on end....shes had her daddy back and slowly has felt safe and secure again.
Army children face so many challenges and sometimes these are sometimes forgotton...I read an interesting article recently...sourced from the US yes but the challenges are the same:  http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/new-88543-military-life.html

When shes fast asleep a cleanly shaven daddy, smartly dressed in fresh uniform with his bag on his back leaves the house into the dark with a huge hug and an 'I'll be home before you know it' he wipes a tear from my cheek...I can almost hear my heart break a little bit....

He WILL be home soon though, the hardest, longest part is behind us and once again I am flying the flag for the Fetigan house....it is what us forces families do best! End of tour will be upon us in a flash...May is only round the corner.

So onwards with the week and with only 5 days until the trek there is so much to keep us busy until once again we are united as a family and Madison has her daddy back :-) xxx