It was with great pleasure that Rotherham United Community Sports Trust (RUCST) and the MCVC (Military Community Veterans Centre) welcomed the Honourable Mayor of Rotherham Cllr Eve-Rose Keenan and her Consort Mr Pat Keenan at the MCVC weekly ‘Drop In’ (Friday 17th November 2017) to officially launch the ‘Friends Together Project’, a project that has been brought about through the hard work of Ms Zanib Rasool MBE (Partnership and Development Manager for RUCST) bidding for and securing funding from the Armed Forces Covenant: Local Grants (Ministry of Defence) .
The project is intended to build links between the military and the wider community through a range of activities and events that create opportunities for people to meet and interact. It would increase social cohesion by bringing together the Armed Forces Community with other diverse communities through activities that build positive relationships, improve physical, emotional and social wellbeing and combat loneliness and isolation often faced by veterans and their families. RUCST will be working in partnership with Rotherham MCVC (Military Community Veteran Centre) to deliver a 42 week programme of activities, plus a number of excursions over the next 12 months.
Chinese and Indian Craft; Seated exercise sessions for people over 55, veterans and the wider community; Community walks involving veterans and the wider community to foster new friendships; Reminiscence sessions working with a local artist to produce a montage of narratives of life in the armed forces: A trip to the coast for isolated veterans and supported by RUCST Coaches to increase intergenerational contact between young people and older people; plus an Eid celebration event organised by the Muslim community to increase community cohesion are just some of activities that are being organised.
The MCVC are proud to be partnering RUCST in this project and the veteran community are looking forward to benefiting from everything that this project has to offer.
