Amongst the many aims of the Armed Forces Support Group, we try to provide the following:

A place of welcome and camaraderie for the service and ex-service community.

To send funds we have raised to the following; Army, Navy, RAF Benevolent Funds and three Cadet Units we support with money for their projects. Last but certainly not least we raise funds to keep our small office open as the hub of the Armed Forces Support Group.

When we began our first problem was that because we wished to help others we could not be a Charity (a Charity can only raise funds for itself). However our Bank set us up with a Community Group Account from which we can now raise funds for all of the above groups and pay for the office running costs. 

So we are SELF FUNDING and sadly cannot apply for a lot of the grants available due to not having a Charity Number. We regard this as a small inconvenience and it will not deter us. 

We buy in, get given and even make lots of items to sell.

We source badges, many of which we design ourselves, and we give talks to local community groups, churches, societies, all for no fee, but we are grateful for donations. 

Our Local Supermarkets are VERY supportive and they give us many advertising slots throughout the year.  

We attend other functions with our mobile fund raising stands and we have three teams of veterans working in various locations who are all volunteers and they all enjoy what they do and experience a huge feeling of success as we continue to thrive. 

There is a backroom team of acquirers who source at a good price, or often at no price, goods to sell. A number of organisations do give us donations along with a couple of faithful pubs that support us. 

We have a very important and discreeet arrangement with all three Cadet Unit Officers that in the event of a young person who in trial proves he/she would make a good cadet but a time arrives where some cost is involved that perhaps the family cannot meet, these Officers know that if they feel these youngsters will benefit themselves and the unit they let us know and if possible we will discreetly cover those costs. In the past these potential Cadets have often been lost due to no funds being available. 

We call it Kids-Off-The-Street.