The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust has awarded an incredible grant of £99,959 to the Erskine Reid Macewen Activities Centre in the Veterans Village in Bishopton.

This will provide vital funding for the Centre throughout 2022 as this project continues to help Veterans living out in the community. The grant was awarded following our successful application to the Trust’s Sustaining Support programme.

The Erskine Activities Centre provides a range of activities, support and social engagement to over 120 Veterans aged from 21 to 102. Our team delivers over 40 different activity sessions every week, provides free daily transport to help Veterans attend the Centre, and also runs monthly events to support members’ spouses and carers.

Following our extensive programme of remote support throughout the most challenging periods of COVID-19, we are delighted that our Centre is open again for our members to come and spend time together and also access additional support from our partner organisations.

Erskine is very proud that our Centre has supported almost 250 Veterans, spouses and carers since opening in 2018. We look forward to supporting even more Veterans next year following the recent refurbishment of the Centre building.

Our Centre is entirely funded by voluntary income and therefore relies on Erskine’s generous and loyal supporters. Our charity would simply not be able to offer this crucial support for Scotland’s Veterans without the continued support of The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust.

Erskine’s Chief Executive, Ian Cumming: “Erskine would like to thank The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust for this very significant grant and for their outstanding support overall of both our Activities Centre and our care homes throughout the pandemic. Our charity is hugely proud to support Veterans of all different ages and backgrounds through our Centre. The Centre’s fantastic team of staff will continue to work hard over the coming months to ensure our members can benefit from this project while operating in line with all COVID-19 guidance. We are hugely grateful to have the Trust’s continued support towards our sector-leading services for vulnerable Veterans.”

Erskine would like to thank The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust again for supporting our work so generously over the last five years. The Trust supports the Armed Forces Covenant by delivering funding programmes that create real change to Armed Forces communities across the UK. To find out more, please visit http://www.covenantfund.org.uk.