Test Valley Business Awards Postponed for 2020

Test Valley Business Awards Postponed for 2020

Due to the current situation with Covid-19 and the Coronavirus Lockdown, the Test Valley Business Awards has been postponed until Spring 2021. 2020 was to have been the 16th year of the awards, with the Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony planned for September, celebrating business excellence throughout the Test Valley. The Steering Group and Gold Sponsors have confi rmed that all entries for this year will be carried over to next year’s event with the current sponsors also staying onboard. A spokesperson for the Steering Group and Sponsors said, “While we are very disappointed the awards are not going ahead this year it is more important that everyone stays safe.” Katie Brooks from the Steering Group added: “You are still able to enter your business online now and we will be having a major push in the fi nal weeks before the judging. We want as many local businesses to get involved and promote themselves as possible.” The Steering Group and Sponsors are also looking to introduce a way of celebrating how Test Valley businesses have supported the community and NHS throughout the crisis and will be releasing details as they are agreed and set up. To enter your business, go online to

www.tvbawards.org.uk/enter

The Veterans at Forces Re-Engineered Their Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Their Struggle and Determination And the Lockdown eff ect

This month it is all about the veterans at Forces Re-Engineered. It is about the physical and mental health struggle of the men during the isolation imposed by the government. To start with they have to deal with the increased chance of contracting the virus due to their physical disabilities. The isolation is also preventing the men from seeing friends (veterans) outside the workshop, making homelife more tension fi lled. However, the current contactless policy of Forces Re-Engineered and the reduced contact to the “outside world” allows the veterans’ continuous emotional healing. They keep the positive going, having each other’s phone numbers, they call each other, helping the progress of moving on. These men truly struggle, but they keep going, determination is an amazing strength of theirs. The workshop has become their second home, their haven, the place where they have slowly started to relax. A place where it is okay to have “a bad day /days” and it’s okay to make a mistake. . They knowledge that it is “allowed” to have the former is something new for them and something to get used to. Getting used to, that there is no need of hiding the “feeling down”. The weekly therapy sessions are another important regularity for them. There is so much more the veterans have to face on their path into civilian life. The training, facing something new, the complete change of life style from the one of their past. College is another diffi cult challenge. Learning with students so much younger than they are and those students not having any idea what the veterans have experienced. The Lockdown isolation made all this more diffi cult to deal with, there was however one real plus point (there always is. An important experience for the veterans to learn), being classed as key workers, being able to do something worthwhile for the community returned some feeling of self-worth, as is the amazing ongoing support the Forces Re-Engineered team is receiving from loyal customers and the public. A huge and humble Thank You to all those supporters from the team!

Unit 3, Queensway, Walworth Ind. Est., Andover, Hampshire SP10 5LG