Social group set up to help Derbyshire military veterans

The initiative is designed to help veterans in the area the group meet up on the last Thursday of every month at 6pm at Chesterfield Football Club, where there is usually a guest speaker, light refreshments and support groups in attendance.

The Trust’s Oli Barnes, who is a veteran himself and was instrumental in setting up the initiative, said: “The programme is designed to help veterans in the area. Buddy Buddy is a term used in the military to say, ‘I’ve got your back’, it’s all about making sure that everyone is ok and nobody gets left behind, it’s maintaining that essential core of military service, which is ‘we are all there for one another.”

“When I left the services, I felt a bit lost and didn’t know what to do so we wanted to create a group to help and provide a safe time and space for people. It’s all about getting people together to have a laugh and a joke with each other, which is so important.”

In November last year, one of the groups original members, Gary Platts, gave a talk on his recent experience of returning to the Falkland Islands forty years after his time there during the Falkland’s Conflict with Argentina.

Gary said: “This talk was a perfect example of talking about some difficult experiences and knowing people in the room were right in that same place, sharing my distress, understanding my survivor guilt, and discussing challenging situations that sometimes only people who have seen or been in combat can understand.

“It was not an easy topic for me, but usually these are the most essential ones to raise. Really key was the number of people who came up to me after and identified the very same feelings I’d mentioned; this is an absolutely critical aspect of sharing stories, feelings, and concerns in a group where everyone has their oppo’s back, for me it really helped in laying some ghosts to rest.”

The next event is at the Chesterfield Stadium on Thursday, March 30, from 6pm. For more details, email [email protected] or [email protected]