Home Local News Armed forces facility supported by borough’s veteran groups

Armed forces facility supported by borough’s veteran groups

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The borough’s ground-breaking armed forces hub has been backed by a Leigh community group that proudly supports ex-forces in the local area.

LCT Forces, a branch of Leigh Community Trust, is looking forward to the facility opening so they can signpost service users to even more support around mental wellbeing, housing advice, employment and more.

As part of Wigan Council’s commitment to its armed forces covenant, the hub will provide tailored services for serving personnel, veterans and armed forces families.

It is also the first to embed a cadet facility, providing an inclusive space for the Wigan Sea Cadets to meet.

David Drury from LCT Forces said: “It’s great that the council have worked with the community to make this ambition a reality. It’s a fantastic asset that the armed forces community borough-wide can benefit from.

“Although we’re dedicated to supporting veterans in the Leigh area, we look forward to working with other organisations across the borough and exploring the possibility of holding drop in sessions at the facility in the near future to help even more people transition back into civilian life.”

The hub will be based at Withnall House near Wigan Little Theatre and the impressive plans will be implemented in two phases, which include a refurb and a new build.

The first phase will see Withnall House be completely renovated and phase two will concentrate on erecting a new build, which will be attached to Withnall House via a corridor and will open later in 2018.

The new build will be solely for the armed forces hub and will offer a mixture of therapy rooms, classrooms, social space and meeting rooms for partners to use.

Councillor Keith Cunliffe, lead member for the armed forces in Wigan Borough said: “Our armed forces hub is the first of its kind and is a brilliant example of how we are leading the way in Wigan Borough.

“We acknowledge that the armed forces community is much bigger than veterans alone, so the hub will offer invaluable support to the whole armed forces community, including partners and family members.” Wigan Council has leased the existing Withnall House building to the Wigan Sea Cadets and has pledged £500,000 to support the development of the hub.

The Ministry of Defence have also promised £100,000 and Wigan Sea Cadets will add to this by giving more than £140,000 from the sale of their previous building.

Councillor David Molyneux, deputy leader of Wigan Council said: “We are very excited that an opening date is now in sight and would like to thank the Wigan Sea Cadets as they have agreed to run the facility with partners moving forward.”

Residents and the armed forces community will be updated as work progresses.

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