Today marks Armed Forces Day, and we would like to take a moment to celebrate the work that the Armed Forces Community is doing in supporting the country during the current pandemic. Members of the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force have been strengthening our public services – supporting the police and NHS, providing personnel, vehicles and equipment, bringing people home who have been stranded, helping with the national testing effort, and delivering lots of much needed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The first of the temporary Nightingale hospitals was built in just nine days by NHS staff, military personnel, contractors and volunteers, and since then the military have supported the building of many other temporary hospitals around the country. Of course, the work the Armed Forces are doing to support the national effort doesn’t stop there, with new challenges coming their way all the time. So, today, we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all that they do.
Here at the University of Chester we have a long history of connections with the Armed Forces Community. Our founding College saw two World Wars, with many of its staff and students leaving to serve. Today, we are home to the Westminster Centre for Research in Veterans, which you can read more about here.
Here in the DARO, we are growing our alumni Armed Forces Community. If you would like to be part of this, please do get in touch to let us know: AlumniAFC@chester.ac.uk. We would love to hear from you!