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Case Study: Veterans Day 2007 in Ellesmere Port

Background Information

In February 2007, Ellesmere Port and Neston Borough Council wrote to all the Ex Service Groups that they were aware of, asking them to attend a meeting in the Civic Hall. On Tuesday 27th February a number of people arrived unsure as to the purpose of the meeting. The letter had mentioned the possibility of a Veterans Day celebration within the Borough. During the meeting it emerged that a member of EP&NBC staff had received information from the Ministry Of Defence (MOD) regarding monies that were available for the Council to hold a local event to celebrate Veterans Day.

Community Development Support

The Borough Council informed the group following the meeting that they were unable to be involved further and asked the group to continue with the event. Cheshire County Council’s Community Development Worker worked in partnership with the development worker from Ellesmere Port and Neston Association of Voluntary and Community Organisations (EPNAVCO) to establish a steering group to organise and hold the event.

Following the first meeting the Veterans were very keen to hold an event to celebrate Veterans day. The group needed support to organise the event, apply for funding and develop the partnership of people who needed to be involved. EPNAVCO prepared the funding bids and accessed monies from Community Champions and the MOD for the events, they also wrote to local business and raised £350, which was used to purchase raffle prizes.

On the day of the event, all volunteers, the steering groups and representatives for the various organisations worked together to ensure the day ran as planned and everyone was involved, visitors to the event were shown around the displays.

Everyone who took part in the Day, whether as an exhibitor, part of the tea-dance or the steering committee; if they had been involved from the start or just turned up on the day, said what a wonderful event it had been. Veterans had the opportunity to re-live their experiences with comrades, and meet up with friends.

What were the lessons learned from the work that was done:

• People need to be involved right from the beginning
• More publicity should be done to advertise the event.
• The event needs to be held over a longer period to give the community more opportunities to view the displays and part take in the activities.
• The schools and young people groups need to be contacted and involved.
  

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