Royal support for war-torn families
The Duchess of Cornwall has made a donation to a fund that will aid the families of wounded Servicemen, it was announced this week.
Newark Patriotic Fund was officially launched in the shadow of the town’s new war memorial in the grounds of the London Road Cemetery on Monday.
Among those present was Lance-corporal Nick Davis (23) a Grenadier Guardsman from Balderton who lost a leg fighting to clear a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan.
Corporal Davis was treated by military doctors at Headley Court, Surrey, where he was fitted with a false leg.
Yet there was no formal support for his family.
They faced the emotional strain of concern for their son, and the practical difficulty of taking time away from work to visit him, while meeting mortgage payments on the family home in Stafford Avenue.
The Patriotic Fund aims to raise £100,000 to help the families of Corporal Davis, Lance-corporal Ivano Violino (29) known in Newark as Sean Sutcliffe, of the Royal Engineers, who died in the blast from a roadside bomb in Helmand last year, and others who might fall in their country’s service.
Corporal Davis, in full Guards uniform, spoke about the success of operations in Afghanistan with the largely Moslem Afghani National Police.
The Duchess of Cornwall gave her donation through the Grayson family who for four generations have served with the RAF.
Mr Mark Grayson and wife, Mrs Karen Grayson, who live in Newark, will in April celebrate their silver wedding and have asked for donations to the fund in lieu of gifts.
Mr Grayson, RAF ground crew for 25 years, said they felt the fund was vital to the peace-of-mind of families.
Their son Carl (19) an ex-Tuxford School pupil, is awaiting posting to Afghanistan or Iraq.
Mr Grayson would not reveal the family’s relationship with Prince Charles’ wife.
The Jamia Al-Karam Moslem private school at Eaton Hall, Retford, which has about 100 boy boarders, made a sizeable donation.
Monday morning’s event was organised by the MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, who launched the fund.
It was attended by the Retford school vice-principal, Mr Bakhtyar Haider Pirzada, two other members of staff and 16 pupils.
Mr Mercer said it was important that the boys understood the sacrifice made by Moslems who fought alongside Christian soldiers in virtually every conflict of the past 200 years.
The youngest Grayson boy, Kristian (14) an RAF cadet, paused during the proceedings with an Al-Karam school prefect, Haroon Ul-Haq (16) to read for themselves the names inscribed in the black granite stones from two world wars.
Asked what it was like growing up in Britain as a young Moslem, Haroon said: “There is a greater move towards acceptance and understanding and unity among faiths and peoples against oppression in a difficult world and that is to be welcomed.”
Mr Pirzada said: “Colour, creed and background has no place.
“We have always stood shoulder to shoulder against tyranny, violence and terror.
“No religion or idealism anywhere in the world recognises terrorism.”
The editor-in-chief and joint managing director of the Advertiser, Mr Roger Parlby, said it had been his honour to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Moslem soldiers while serving in Burma with the 1st Royal Lincolns as part of an Indian division of the 14th Army during the second world war.
Mr Parlby, who handed over an Advertiser cheque for £1,000, said: “Every man in the Indian Army was a volunteer.
“I have very great reason to salute every Moslem soldier that I stood alongside. They were very courageous as they have been in every conflict since. They do a tremendous job.”
A Newark county councillor and the co-founder of the patriotic fund, Mr Keith Girling, who served in the same regiment as Corporal Davis, said: “We wouldn’t be standing here today were it not for the fact that British soldiers have served alongside Moslem soldiers throughout history, even as recently as the Gulf War.”
The fund currently stands at around £2,750 with several more significantly-sized donations expected soon.
