WIREDGOV

After Andrew MacDonald was medically discharged from the army with a leg injury at just 21 he spent years struggling to come to terms with how much his injury was affecting his day to day life - at rock-bottom almost cutting his leg off with a kitchen knife.

The help that he has received from Links, who support ex-service personnel experiencing mental health problems, has transformed his life, and welcomes news that they receive £418,241 from the Big Lottery Fund.

They are one of 10 projects across Wales sharing in £4,261,555 as part of the latest round of People and Places funding. (For a full list of awards, click here).

Andrew MacDonald, now 45, from Carmarthen was medically discharged from the Army in May 1991 with leg injuries sustained after a training exercise. After working for two years his leg gave way and eventually lost his job. 

“I spent nearly a year as a hermit but I got my act together after friends got me out again and went to college to retrain, and eventually found a post with the college.  I also met my future wife to be.

“Over the next ten years my leg continued to get worse and I again lost my job, I found it harder to find work or socialise with others.  My moods started to affect my marriage and my bond with my children.

“Finally things came to a head and I hit crisis-point, this for me was very nearly removing my damaged leg with a kitchen knife. I remember sitting on the stairs at home, staring at the knife block and I only stopped myself from doing it when I saw a photograph of my children.

“Through the British Legion I was referred to Links.  First impressions I was not sure how they could help me, but I was made to feel welcome, no one judged me or labelled me and stuck me in a room.

“There were other Ex-Forces people there and the old camaraderie and banter soon came back, and it felt safe to be there.  I started to take Learn Direct courses to improve my computer skills and help out with NAAFI mornings, and if I had a problem with any forms for benefits someone made time to help me.

“I still need Links for my own health but am now helping others through the Combined Forces Telephone Buddies Scheme and I am also running Figure Painting courses, a hobby that has helped me with concertation, relaxation and distraction.

“It’s fantastic that Links is receiving Lottery money for this project to help people in similar situations that I’ve been in. My wife when asked recently how she thought Links had helped me, replied that had it not been for the continuing support from the staff and the encouragement to engage and become a volunteer, as a family we would be in a very different and difficult situation.”

Welcoming the funding, Links Manager, Susie Hamill said: “We’re absolutely delighted to receive this funding as part of the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places programme to support veterans. This service has been defined by the veterans themselves and makes a real difference to them and their families, and this funding will help us enhance that service.”

Elsewhere, The Wallich receive £998,413 for their BOSS (Building Opportunities Skills & Success) project that will provide employability and entrepreneurship programmes, ongoing support, mentoring, work experience and job opportunities in prisons across South Wales.

It will impact on the rates of reoffending, take up of educational and employment opportunities amongst ex-offenders, and improve the number of organisations who will employ ex-offenders and vulnerable people. 

Ellie Pearson, Learning & Development Coordinator at The Wallich said: “We are delighted to be awarded this grant from The Big Lottery Fund for our BOSS project. At The Wallich we understand the complex challenges that ex-offenders and prison leavers face during their transition from prison into the community and know the project will make a dramatic difference to a great deal of ex-offenders lives, reduce reoffending across South Wales and promote active citizenship”.

In Flintshire, Domestic Abuse Safety Unit receive £249,816 to support survivors, both male and female, to recover from their experiences of domestic abuse by providing various holistic, specialist and innovative activities, including parenting skills, goal setting and assistance through legal and civil justice systems. 

Sue Monti, of the project said, “Almost 200 people have accessed the Domestic Abuse Safety Unit’s (DASU) Progress Outreach Service in the three years it has been funded by the Big Lottery Fund. An independent evaluation at the end of the project’s second year evidenced its impact was even greater than we had realised. The mental well-being of people who have experienced domestic abuse was a key theme of the research and 6 of the 11 people interviewed by the researcher disclosed that without the provision of the service they would have taken their own lives.

“They testified to the importance of having a trusting professional relationship with their Progress support workers who helped them in a number of practical ways to achieve the most positive outcomes from the worst of experiences. They said that most significantly they were empowered to believe themselves valuable and worthy of living.

“We are absolutely delighted that our bid to continue the project for a further three years and to add provision of The Recovery Toolkit programme has been successful. We hope that it will provide many more people with the opportunities to improve and maintain their personal safety and emotional well-being.”

Highlighting the importance of the People and Places programme, Rona Aldrich, Wales Committee Member for the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Programmes like People and Places are making a difference to the lives of so many people in communities across Wales.

“It delivers on our promise to use National Lottery funding to regenerate and revitalise communities, tackle disadvantage head on and leave a lasting legacy.”

The People and Places programme awards grants of between £5,001 and £1 million for a broad range of community projects. For further information about the programme and how you can apply for funding, please visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales

Further Information:

Alexander Davies - Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 029 2067 8236
Public Enquiries Line: 0300 123 0735                          
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available at: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Follow Big Lottery Fund Wales on Twitter: www.twitter.com/biglotterywales
Find Big Lottery Fund Wales on Facebook: www.facebook.com/biglotteryfundwales

• The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £6.5 billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.