Page 5 - CAMPAIGN Summer 2021

from Anu Sefton from the New Zealand Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association, Keith Kiefer and John Wills from the United States of America National Association of Atomic Veterans, Johnny Mercer MP, Jean-Louis Camuzat from AVEN France, Teeua from Christmas Island who runs the Kiribati Nuclear Tests Victims’ Survivors’ Association and Tony Jeffery, Chair of the NCCF. We were joined by over 100 delegates and the atmosphere was vibrant.
I would like to thank everyone involved in organising the Conference Reunion, including the BNTVA Trustees, David and Veronica Taunt, Ron Watson, Helen Lax, Gwen, Ron and Zed Bostwick and Ben Harding. It was amazing looking back at where the Association was a year ago, where it sits now and where it is developing. I’m also grateful to the majority of Trustees who had the time to sit and pass the Adults’ Safeguarding course with flying colours, and for our qualified First Aid Responders. Courses will follow for Trustees with specialties, such as Mental Health First Aid Awareness training, funded by the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.
The Reunion and Conference reinforced our sense of urgency
to push forward and enable understanding within the corridors of power where possible, backed up with historical fact and evidence. There was a tangible enthusiasm amongst those who shared with us to work together in a multi-disciplinary sense. More will follow on this in the next editions of the BNTVA Campaign magazine. We were thrilled to introduce veterans to one another from the same tests and see them suddenly remember one another.
Meanwhile, we are delighted to announce collaborative working with Dr Chris Hill and the University of South Wales (USW) on an education-focused project between BNTVA and the USW. This will include schools’ talks, BNTVA campus lectures, student placements with the BNTVA and impactful research. An “impact case study” will be developed for the nuclear test veteran community by creating educational resources for secondary school and sixth form college curricula concerning the British nuclear tests and Operation Dominic.
The USW will provide an Impact Case Study Officer to work
with the BNTVA, funded by USW. We are working on the preparation for an exhibition/symposium event to bring researchers, students, school children and the general public together for the 70th anniversary of Operation Hurricane in October 2022.
A two-page booklet was produced by the BNTVA and Armed Forces Commissioning entitled “Working with Nuclear Test Veterans (NVTs): Positive Practice Short Guide”. This guide has been sent to GPs throughout England.
The Trustees are delighted to announce that our work in the past 12 months has been given a special mention at the Civil Society Media Charity Awards 2021 in the “Rathbones Covid 19 Response, Frontline service delivery” category. We were pipped to the post by Touchstone but so thrilled with a mention out of 307 charities within the round, meeting the criteria of outcomes and effectiveness, value for money, innovation, sustainability, replicability & scalability, and best practice.
We need to hear from you about your experiences with the priority fast-track war pension form. Has this additional form on top of the original form made any positive difference to your claim for a war pension? We are hearing from nuclear test veterans that the process is taking many months and have not heard any success stories within the past year. If you have or haven’t been awarded a war pension, please let us know, as
we will bring this to the Office of Veterans’ Affairs.
We are very sorry to hear that Alexandra (Sandie) Hern passed away in August after a battle with cancer, and that Andi Jones’ father, Gwynne, a crew member of the HMS Diana, passed away on 5 September, three days after his sixtieth wedding anniversary and following a long battle with cancer.
We will remember them.
Ceri McDade
UniDip (Theol.) PGCert (M.H.Psych) PGDip. (Soc.Res.)
BNTVA Chair
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CAMPAIGN SUMMER 2021