Rotherham does support the forces

Two local ladies were overheard saying it’s not right ‘The council not doing owt to support the forces’.

May I through your paper address that statement please?

Rotherham MBC signed the Military Community Covenant on January 20, 2012. Since that time monthly meetings have been held in the Town Hall with partner groups ably led by Councillor John Doyle to plan how best support can be given to Rotherham members of HM Forces Past and Present and Reservists and all  our families.

One of the ways agreed was the formation of Rotherham Military Community Veterans Centre  MCVC to offer a single point of access to all the amazing support services available from what can seem a confusing array of organisations.

Currently we meet weekly in The Unity Centre on Tuesdays at 10am.  Our longer term ambition is to raise enough money to fund a permanent ‘one stop shop’ drop in centre in the middle of town, and also operate an ‘outreach’ service around the 45 towns and villages that form the Borough of Rotherham. Last Wednesday we raised £91.20 towards those funds and we will continue to collect until we provide the permanent presence in Rotherham.

I hope that answers the two ladies who said nothing is done by ‘the council’?

Please support the MCVC when you see us, we are a Rotherham based group run by Rotherham Ex Servicemen  set up to help Rotherham based Armed Forces past and present.

May I also announce the winner of the signed Rotherham Utd Shirt our MCVC group raffled at the open day at New York Stadium.

Seen here receiving his prize from me is Paul from Ravenfield. Congratulations and thanks to all the people who supported our raffle — and Rotherham United and Russ Morgan in particular — which raised £115 towards our aim of funding a Drop In Centre in the town

Steve Bentham-Bates, on behalf of Rotherham Military Community Veterans Centre