HRH Princess Royal awards certificates at Help for Heroes centre
The Princess Royal met wounded service personnel to see how achieving qualifications benefits them
15 December 2014
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Wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans based at Tedworth House, the Help for Heroes Recovery Centre in Wiltshire, have been awarded City & Guilds certificates by Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal.
Tedworth House became an approved centre to offer City & Guilds qualifications earlier this year and residents are now able to complete courses in a range of subjects including art, horticulture, employability skills and motor vehicle maintenance.
The Princess Royal, who is the President of City & Guilds, visited the centre on Friday to meet the veterans, tour the facility and see the work that City & Guilds and Help for Heroes are doing together. For those recovering from physical and mental trauma, gaining new skills can be an important part of the recovery process.
As well as having therapeutic benefits, gaining a qualification also builds self-esteem and confidence, and can lead to new employment opportunities.
During the visit, The Princess Royal presented City & Guilds certificates to 11 wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans who had completed qualifications in art, bookbinding, employability skills and live quarry shooting.
One who received a certificate was Private Josh Campbell, who recently completed an Employability skills course. Josh was in Afghanistan in September 2009 at the end of a six month tour with the 23 Pioneer Regiment when his vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device.
He lost both of his legs in the explosion, and he also thought he'd lost his future.
'When you become injured and your future is taken away from you, you lose confidence in yourself,' he said.
After being medically discharged from the Army, he decided to enrol on the career recovery programme at Help for Heroes. That experience has changed his perspective on life and given him another chance.
'The course was so helpful in giving me the skills, the knowledge and the motivation to do it. The aim is to become self-employed and use my woodwork skills to make a living. This course and my time spent at Tedworth House and with Help for Heroes has given me a huge amount of belief and now I have a really positive outlook.'
Chairman of City & Guilds, Sir John Armitt said, ‘At City & Guilds, we’re all about helping people get into a job, progress on a job and move on to the next job. This is so important to the courageous service personnel and veterans that we have met today.
'Achieving a nationally-recognised qualification not only builds self-esteem and confidence as part of a recovery programme but also shows that there are opportunities open to them outside the Armed Forces.
'City & Guilds is proud to be partnering with Help for Heroes to support our servicemen and women, and all the individuals who have received their City & Guilds certificates should be truly proud of their accomplishments.’
Learn more about Help for Heroes' Tedworth House >