Veterans’ village secures huge boost from military charity
Greenwich Hospital donates £2m to benefit lives of ex-service personnel
A military charity’s fundraising efforts for a new village to support ex-service personnel has received a huge boost.
The Aylesford-based Royal British Legion Industries is aiming to build a Centenary Village to celebrate 100 years of employment, training, accommodation, care and support for veterans. First formed in 1919 to provide support to sick and wounded soldiers returning from the First World War, it launched a £22 million appeal to build the village and support families through new adapted homes, nursing care, mental health support and access to the RBLI’s on-site employability services. Now, the charity is three-quarters of the way to meeting its target, thanks to a £2m donation from Greenwich Hospital. It means work will begin later this year on the development which will include 22 apartments, each designed to be fully accessible and house single veterans in urgent need, 16 new family properties, and a further 24 assisted-living homes. At the heart of the new development, which will sit alongside RBLI’s existing village, care homes and manufacturing facility, will be a state-of-the-art community centre with accessible gym.
Greenwich Hospital, which traces its history back to 1694, is one of the oldest military charities in the country and supports serving and retired Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel and their dependants with benevolence support, educational bursaries, sheltered housing schemes and vital outreach projects across the UK. In recognition of its donation, the assisted living building at the new Centenary Village will be named Greenwich House. John Gamp, Greenwich Hospital’s charity operations director, said: “Providing a better life for veterans of our Armed Forces – of both young and older generations – is one of the most important issues for society. We can do much more to help people with disabilities and health conditions continue to thrive. “RBLI’s Centenary Village is leading the way in tackling this pressing issue.”