My name is John Loveday, I am a veteran and I proudly served in 2nd Battalion the Rifles as a Non Commissioned Officer. After 7 years in HM Forces and experiencing some of the fiercest fighting the British Army has seen to date, I decided to start a new life in civvy street. I never had a ‘normal’ job; I worked as a…
Approximately 79% of working age Military veterans are employed in the UK. Many veterans have high quality transferable skills which they have gained through their Defence training. All of these skills are extremely desirable to civilian employers. We spoke to Barry Lewis a veteran and Director of Commercial Banking for NatWest in the West Midlands to find out more. “The world of work…
Shropshire Council are proud signatories of the Armed Forces Covenant and were immensely proud to receive the Military of Defence’s Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award in 2017. To further their commitment they have re-signed their Armed Forces Covenant this week, during Armed Forces Week. Since they last re-signed in 2016 they have done much more in terms of their support, policies and advocating…
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) is a proud signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant and works with the Armed Forces to help and support current and former service personnel and their families in the local area. They are an organisation that supports their Reservists, veterans and cadets. The council encourages Sandwell businesses, community groups and individuals to work with them to pledge their…
Serve and Protect CU, a Birmingham based company, received their Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award in 2020 and are fully supportive of the Armed Forces community, both in terms of employees and customers. Serve and Protect CU is a not-for-profit financial cooperative, which helps to improve the financial resilience of those who serve the nation. They are here to help their members…
Senior Aircraftman Keith Herman lives in Greater Manchester but serves with 605 (County of Warwick) Squadron RAF Reserves. The Reserve unit based out of RAF Cosford, is the only RAF Reserve unit within the West Midlands area, and are specialist Logistics (Mechanical Transport Drivers, Suppliers and Chefs) and RAF Police Service personnel. Keith join the Squadron in 2017, when he was in his…
Sub-Lieutenant Victoria Duffield-Smith is a Reservist at HMS FORWARD, Birmingham’s Royal Naval Reserve unit. Victoria has recently assumed the role of Junior Officer Training Officer, developing the leaders of the future. As a member of the Amphibious Warfare branch, she has experience of UK Maritime Enforcement Operations and in her civilian employment, she is currently an Inspector with Warwickshire Police, and is the…
We are very pleased to welcome Calum Nisbet as the new chair of our Regional Employer Engagement Group (REEG) at West Midland Reserve Forces & Cadets Association (RFCA). The REEG is a group of over 20 members made up of senior representatives of the Armed Forces, employer community and WM RFCA. The aim of the REEG is to provide a regional forum for…
Exciting new research into the UK Cadet Forces highlights the positive impacts on young peoples’ development, adult volunteers and wider society. The UK currently has 130,000 cadets and almost 30,000 adult volunteers supporting them. This follows the Cadet Expansion Programme launched by the UK Government in 2012 which saw the number of school cadet units double to over 500 by last year. During…
Eight exceptional cadets have been appointed to the role of Lord-Lieutenant’s Cadet for the West Midlands region at a special virtual ceremony. Each year Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant for each county appoints selected cadets to become the Lord- Lieutenants’ Cadets for the forthcoming year. The cadets come from the Sea Cadet Corps (SCC), Royal Marine Cadets, Army Cadet Force (ACF), RAF Air Cadets and…
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