4 minute read
The Grapevine
SNIPPETS FROM AROUND THE TOMMY CLUB COMMUNITY
NEW BOOKS FOR OUR RESIDENTS, THANKS TO GORDON AND RAY
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Tommy Club Champion, Ray Pass, had a special delivery for the guys in Mountbatten, our emergency accommodation, in May.
When his best mate, an ex 29 Commando of 10 years and policeman of 25 years, very sadly passed away earlier this year, Ray still had a box of brand new books he had bought him for Christmas.
Ray thought that the books would be really appreciated by the Village residents here at RBLI – and he was right!
Another big thank you to Tommy Club Champion, Gordon Jenkins, who kindly travelled to our village to donate a whole collection of books for us to share across our village community.
When the Sovereign Rotary Club were contacted by Morrisons, offering to donate some brand new books, Gordon immediately thought of RBLI, knowing we have over 300 veterans and their families living on our village.
Thanks to kind donations from Gordon and Ray, our library has suddenly expanded and we know they will be much enjoyed by veterans and their families.
CHAMPION CHRIS GOES SOFT FOR TOMMY CLUB!
Chris Jepson, our Great Tommy Sleep Out Star and Tommy Club Champion, created this amazing builda-bear and raffled it off online to raise money for RBLI.
Selling the the tickets for £2 each, he had over 50 people buy tickets in just five days!
Chris organised everything himself and roped in friend, Andrea, to help with the sewing — so creative and what cute little bears!
Two bears were raffled and the first lucky winner was Anne-Marie, another Sleep Out participant whose son Joshua you may recognise from RBLI’s social media pages (he slept outside for almost 2 months)!
The second bear was raffled off online and to Chris’ work colleague, raising over £250 in the end!
Chris is already on to his next mission; working with a local Brewery on the first Tommy Club fundraising beer. We can’t wait! Thank you so much for your support Chris.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR THE PAULS!
WELL DESERVED MEDAL FOR TOMMY CHAMPION, PAUL WRATTEN
We popped into our Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company factory to award one of our wonderful Champions with a well deserved medal.
Paul Wratten recently took part in Tommy’s Race to Victory and raised a fantastic total of £179 for RBLI. Paul is a fantastic example of why the Tommy Club is so important. When chatting, he said:
VOLUNTEER PAUL TAIT GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND
A HUGE thank you to our amazing long-time supporter Paul Tait for volunteering at two events this year.
Badge and flag in hand, Paul cheered on our Tommy Relay Team for VE Day, at the end of a particularly hard day or cycling and running. What a morale boost it was to see a friendly face!
On Sunday 1st August Paul then travelled to the London Landmarks Half Marathon.
After helping us set up our cheer station, he joined in the noise to make sure our runners had all the support they needed to get over that finish line.
It was such a great day and Paul made it even more special by cheering on our runners with the upmost enthusiasm. Our whole team can’t thank him enough for everything he does for us and his fellow veterans!
PAUL’S SMOKING HOT FUNDRAISER FOR ARMED FORCES DAY
Well done to Tommy Club Champion Paul Martin, who joined the Biker Veterans Ride of Remembrance and the Suffolk Armed Forces Community at Hangar 53 in Colchester to run a BBQ for the whole day, raising over £160 for RBLI.
Superstar fundraiser, Paul, has already raised over £1,700 for RBLI and we are hugely grateful. Thank you to everyone involved in this event for all your hard work.
WANT TO SHARE SOMETHING ON THE GRAPEVINE?
So many Tommy Club Champions that have gone above and beyond and we’d love to feature as many of your stories as possible here.
If you’d like to submit a story to the Grapevine, please email it to tommyclub@rbli.co.uk. Don’t forget to include pictures!
