Page 4 - CAMPAIGN Winter 2021

2
CAMPAIGN Winter 2021
CEO Report
Dear Members,
Welcome to the final magazine of this calendar year. 2021 has been a very busy year for the BNTVA.
On Remembrance Sunday, there was a great presence of veterans, wives/widows and descendants at war memorials up and down the UK, and we attach photos that were sent in after appealing on Facebook to the nuclear family. Thank you to all who were fit enough to attend memorials remembering loved ones and comrades. I was proud to attend the Risca memorial, home of two memorial plaques to the nuclear
test veterans and where the Wales standard was laid up in the early 1990s. I was honoured to march with Mike Aubrey, Operation Dominic veteran and President of the Risca Royal British Legion branch; we laid our BNTVA wreaths together at the War Memorial, with hundreds of people in attendance on an extremely warm November day.
The Nuclear Community Charity Fund (NCCF) has raised the threshold from £10,000 to £16,000 of personal savings for those considering applying to the Care, Wellbeing & Inclusion Fund within the UK. If you need help with the application, please contact info@bntva.com
or office@thenccf.com
Grant giving is flexible to assist with home adaptations, wet rooms, mobility aids, counselling and respite care, to name just a few items. The Fund is open to the immediate family of British nuclear test veterans, not just the veteran.
It is, however, touching to note that our veterans often plan to have the drape at their time of passing, and that families are honoured for their veteran’s coffin to be clothed in the Association’s crest for their final journey.
We are also grateful to those (who know who they are) who visit nuclear test veterans regularly in their homes, hospitals and care homes. Thank you everyone who has assisted the BNTVA over 2021 and for our growing network of volunteers.
Christmas can be a very lonely time for some British nuclear test veterans and/or their family members. If you think that you will be alone and isolated, particularly through this dreadful ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we will be available over the Christmas period. Either call us on 0208 144 3080, write to The Smithy, Defynnog, Brecon, Powys, LD3 8SB or email info@bntva.com to let us know.
We can keep in touch with you as part of the “BNTVA Christmas Catch-Up", and phone you over the Christmas period for a chat. Remember that you matter, and we urge you to contact us if you are lonely; it will be our pleasure to talk with you.
We are conscious that an increasing number of our nuclear test veterans have passed away in the latter part of the year, and the Trustees and contacts within the Association have and are supporting bereaved families and attending funerals where possible. There are two more funerals to attend before Christmas in the Southeast of England.
Unfortunately, this sombre demand has revealed a quicker turnover for the BNTVA coffin drape service, and we are purchasing further drapes.