The Summer Solstice is now behind us and 2019 is racing by. We have all been very busy at Team HighGround so read on and Enjoy!

Anna BC
Founder and Executive Director

FRIENDS OF HIGHGROUND

FHG is the voluntary arm of HighGround which supports and promotes the work of the FHG is the voluntary arm of HighGround which supports and promotes the work of the Charity through fundraising and community awareness initiatives both locally and nationally.

The Vision is to create a network of Friends who will promote and facilitate the work of HighGround. Whilst the majority of our fundraising still comes from grant-making trusts and foundations, by starting the Friends of HighGround our aim is to diversify our funding sources to include more corporate and personal donations.

To that end we have drawn up a Wishlist which we update quarterly. We don’t have a designated Fundraising department and rely on the Friends of HighGround to help us raise our current annual budget which is £315,250 and help us build our Reserves. Friends who volunteer to have a stand at events need a banner, branded tablecloth, collecting tins and leaflets which we call our ‘show pack’ – this all costs money.

Each item on the Wishlist is currently unfunded, and we hope this will inspire you, our Friends and supporters, to help us raise funds for these essential items – we run a pretty tight ship…

RURAL WEEKS

At the time of writing, our Spring Rural Weeks programme at Bicton is almost complete.

Thanks to the support of ABF the Soldiers’ Charity, RAF Benevolent Fund, Greenwich Hospital and the Royal Marines Charity, we have delivered 3 Rural Weeks with one more to come at the end of June, to a total of 27 Service Leavers and Veterans including our first lady from the Royal Navy, first Group Captain, and first Army Padre.

A huge thank you to all our wonderful presenters, evening speakers and hosts who give their time, knowledge and contacts so freely.

New visits in 2019 include Debbie Kingsley at South Yeo Farm West and Justin Lascelles at Combe Estate – our HighGrounders comment time and again what a difference it makes seeing something ‘for real’ not in a classroom.

Thanks to generous support from The Royal Foundation and other donors, we will shortly be recruiting our first Rural Employment Manager who will be responsible for developing the land-based employment service by working with our Development Board all over the UK to help veterans into land-based employment and self-employment where they feel appreciated and their military skills and experience can be used to their best advantage – watch this space!!