It’s cold, it’s dark and it’s wet, but we are inviting you to sleep outside for one night to fundraise for RBLI and raise awareness of homeless ex-servicemen and women. The challenge invites you to brave the cold and potentially wet March nights, raising money to support our services that get veterans off the streets and into safe, warm housing with welfare and employment support. I know what some of you will be thinking – yes! A fundraising event that doesn’t involve running! – but believe us, it’s still a challenge.

Up to the challenge? Sign up today and we will send you everything you need in one handy pack. When your first donation comes in, you’ll also receive a free beanie hat!

We are looking for support for our application for a NCC commemorative plaque for Salvation Army stalwart Mrs Brigadier Mary Climpson, the first woman to be killed with the British Expeditionary Force in France, 1940.

An application has been made for a commerative plaque to be installed where Mary grew up in Newcastle Upon Tyne, but we need your signature to ensure it can happen.

You can read more about Mrs Brigadier Mary Climpson’s story and sign the petition by clicking the button below:

Veterans, like ex-Royal Marine Paul, come to RBLI in urgent need of support. Paul served in the Royal Marines from 1995 – 2017. His 22 year service, which saw him deployed on 7 operational tours, had a substantial effect on his health. He was subsequently discharged from the forces with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and in need of a wheelchair.

Paul came to RBLI in 2017, struggling with his mental health and was placed on the charity’s holistic welfare programme ‘Step-In’, which provided him with a plan towards an independent and fulfilling life.

He said :
My mental health during my service in the Royal Marines affected me massively, the physical injuries I can see, but the scars that I can’t see, that other people can’t see are the mental side of things, the invisible scares. The nightmares, the only way to stop it, for me, was to have a drink’.

RBLI provided Paul with the professional physical, mental and addiction support that he needed as well as housing to support him while he continues on his journey of recovery.

Since he first came to RBLI, Paul has made huge progress. He has moved from assisted to independent living within our accommodation and after several surgical procedures is now walking with the use of a cane.

Despite knowing he will live with PTSD for life, Paul now manages his condition by attending weekly support sessions at RBLI’s Village. Thanks to RBLI’s welfare team, and with the support of delivery partners such as PTSD Resolution, he has stayed sober.

Paul said ‘After receiving the help from RBLI, I can now see a future’. ‘Without the help from the RBLI I don’t know where I’d be right now’.

A few weeks ago, we put a call out to our amazing supporters to send Tommy Trotter, a D-Day veteran, a birthday card for his 100th birthday, which he was due to spend in Lockdown.

In total, he received over 3000 cards and gifts, which is truly astonishing. We would like to thank you all so much for making his day so special.

From all of us at RBLI and the Tommy Club, we set him his very own Unknown Tommy and personalised Perspex Tommy to put in his window.

From all of us at RBLI, we thank you for your support and hope you have a lovely weekend!

Captain Sir Tom’s story of support for the country began many decades before the current crisis. A veteran of the Eastern campaign during the Second World War, Sir Tom served in incredibly challenging conditions in both India and Burma as part of the allied efforts combatting the Imperial Japanese Army.

Stationed primarily in India, he provided vital support running a training programme for Army motorcyclists before joining the Fourteenth Army also known as the Forgotten Army – named so due to the thousands of miles of distance between them and their UK homeland.

The Eastern theatre of war brought with it conditions not seen in Europe: heat, humidity and tropical disease. Like many of his comrades, Sir Tom was struck down with dengue fever but fortunately recovered before returning to the UK in the final year of the war to become an instructor on the inner workings of Churchill tanks.

It was 75 years later that Sir Tom would once again come to the fore in the nation’s time of need.

Beginning in April 2020, the then 99-year-old Sir Tom decided he would walk, walking frame in-hand, 100 laps of his garden with a modest target of raising £1,000 for the NHS.

Within a few weeks, after receiving global acclaim with celebrities, members of the cabinet and even the Prime Minister recognising his efforts, Tom completed his 100^th lap – ahead of his 100^th birthday, as planned.

Upon completion, his fundraising total amounted to an astonishing £32million and for his efforts he was was knighted by the Queen at a July special ceremony in what was Her Majesty’s first official engagement since the lockdown.

Captain Sir Tom was able to do something truly remarkable: he brought together the nation at a time when people were unable to meet, he rallied the troops in support of those in need – just as he had almost 80 years earlier, he personified the sense of duty found so often in the ex-servicemen and women of our Armed Forces.

Thank you SO much to everyone who has sent Tommy Trotter a birthday card. To date, he has received over 2,500 cards. Can you see yours in the image below?

How amazing! His birthday is on Feb 10th, and there’s a few more special surprises in store for him, so watch this space!

Soon-to-be centenarian Tommy lives in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham. He served in the Second World War, landing on the beaches of Normandy on 6^th June 1944 as part of the allied invasion of occupied France. Tommy went on to receive the Legion D’Honour, France’s highest military honour.

On February 10th, Tommy, who now has dementia, is going to celebrate his 100th birthday. Tommy also enjoys telling others of his stories of times gone by as a regular of his local bar, the Don War Memorial Bar in Stockton. He loves nothing more than settling down with a pint of John Smith’s and a Sunday Roast. Bar owner Julia Cooper had organised a fitting occasion for the 99-year-old, including a regimental guard of honour!

Unfortunately, these plans have been scrapped due to the pandemic and hero Tommy faces spending his big day in total isolation. Julia has been forced to take to social media, asking the public to send Tommy a birthday card, to ensure his momentous occasion wouldn’t go uncelebrated.

After hearing of the project from Champions of our Tommy Club, we reached out to Julia to help make his 100th birthday a day to remember. We are now turning to you, our amazing supporters, to help us achieve this.

We have even created a birthday card that you can print off and send to Tommy (or feel free to send you own). It can be downloaded for free using the button above.

As our base of loyal supporters, we would greatly appreciate if you could take the time to download the card, write your own message and post it off to Tommy. It would be absolutely amazing for him to receive well-wishing messages from our community to read on the big day.

We’re going to send this email to all of our friends and family. Maybe you can forward it to yours too? Imagine how loved Tommy would feel if all of those people sent a card. Please don’t leave it to others and send your card today!

Have you started 2021 on the right foot? Feeling motivated to make this year count?

Whether you want to set yourself a goal to get fit, blow out those lockdown cobwebs or be part of a passionate online community, the Tommy 10,000 Step Challenge is exactly what you’re looking for! Step, hop or run your way to 10,000 steps per day for the duration of lockdown – an achievable goal that will get your mind and body moving!

Getting going in January is always a challenge, but there’s no better motivation than the support of the incredible RBLI community cheering you on! Plus, the knowledge that every penny you raise will help our most vulnerable veterans. Give yourself and our nations heroes a sporting chance; let’s start 2021 as we mean to go on!

You can begin your challenge anytime and continue right through the duration of lockdown. How far will you walk during this lockdown?

Now more than ever it’s important to look after your physical and mental health. 10,000 steps a day will have you feeling confident and strong as we take on this new year together!

Sign up for pro tips, trick and challenges, no matter what your level of fitness!

The moment many of you have been waiting for is finally here, a SALE! Throughout the remainder of January, we are pleased to offer a 10% saving off selected products using the following code:

Code expires 31 Jan 2021.
Here are some of the products in the sale, click here to browse the full sale! Remember, take 10% off all prices seen below!

Fancy winning yourself a swag bag full of RBLI goodies?

We’ve launched a caption contest over on our Instagram page. To enter, all you need to do is head over to our Instagram page @rblicharity, give us a like and follow, and comment your best caption for this #TommyStep challengers photo.

The winner will be announced on 1^st February so get your entries in soon!

You’ve got to be in it to win it!

Royal British Legion Industries have recently given their services for the Design Museum’s celebration of the work of leading graphic designer and Tommy Club Founding Patron Margaret Calvert OBE, renowned for the UK’s road signage system, signing for the rail network and airports, and for the typeface used on the government website, gov.uk.

Margaret Calvert OBE was a leading member of the team commissioned to redesign the road sign system in 1960s, creating many of the iconic symbols still used to this day including ‘Roadworks’, and ‘Children’, the two signs which have been recreated for this exhibition by veterans working in RBLI’s social enterprise, Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company (BBMC)

Margaret Calvert was delighted with the exhibition and said “The signs and displays looked great, so a huge thank you from me to you, Simon, and to RBLI. Everybody seemed very pleased at the opening. It did look impressive.”  Rachel Hajek, Assistant Curator at the Design Museum added: “We are very grateful for the help that RBLI and Buchanan Computing were able to provide with the traffic signs and other graphics for our Margaret Calvert: Woman at work display.”