Help for Heroes charity roundup

The past few weeks have been a bumper period for charity Help for Heroes, with a large volume of new fundraising for the organisation coming from around the country. A new beer, a charity football tournament and a rugby training event are just a few of the occurrences that have seen the charity helped in the last few weeks. 

We take a look at a roundup of the best of the charity seen in recent weeks. 

A new beer

Tesco and brewery Marston's have teamed up to launch a brand new type of beer, which has been designed and created in conjunction with injured servicemen, according to a report in the Off Licence News.

The beer will be sold in Tesco with a donation from every bottle sold going to Help for Heroes. It comes after Tesco beer buyer Chiara Nesbitt met the charity’s co-founder, Bryn Parry, at an event in 2013 and promised him that the supermarket would have a charity beer on shelves within a year. 

Ex-servicemen Pete Dunning, Daniel Whittingham and Simon Brown, all ambassadors for the charity, were recruited for the process of creating the beer, a blonde ale at 4.2 per cent abv. 

The bottles will be sold at a price of £1.97 each, with 5p from each sale going to Help for Heroes, Tesco has confirmed. 

Ms Nesbitt said: “Help for Heroes beer has a very modern, zesty taste and is aimed at the growing number of younger drinkers who are switching from lager to ale."

Charity football

Brechin High School in the north of Scotland has once again held its annual marathon charity football event, with this year's fundraising effort being made to raise money for Help for Heroes. 

The high school's yearly event sees a 12-hour football game take place at the school, and this year it managed to raise £500 for the military charity. The two biggest fundraisers were pupils Ian Black and Craig Hay, who were rewarded for their efforts by being allowed to present the cheque.

Rugby collection

From one sporty venture to another – Burton Rugby Club has been raising funds for Help for Heroes in the last few weeks as it looks to also find rugby stars of the future. 

The club has been inviting children who have never played the sport before to come along to its training grounds and give it a go, as well as taking them to see the first 15 play a game against Hinkley in a move that it hopes will spark an interest in playing the sport. 

According to the Burton Mail, the two events also saw bucket collections for Help for Heroes, which raised a decent amount of cash.

Michael McHardy, coach and referee for the rugby club said: "It went brilliantly. We managed to recruit four players to our junior and minis team and we raised £211.67 for Help for Heroes through a bucket collection." 

Sister act

Elsewhere, a young woman in Buxton is making her own effort to help raise funds for Help for Heroes as she looks to recognise the good work that the charity has done to support her brother, who was injured in action in Afghanistan.

Kirsty Lownds, 22, told the Buxton Advertiser that Help for Heroes offered a lot of support to her brother and her whole family while her brother, Anthony, spent an extended period in hospital after suffering his injury in the line of duty. 

“He was in hospital a long time, having numerous operations. Help for Heroes have done a lot for our family," Ms Lownds told the news provider. 

“When Anthony was in hospital we got such great support from them. Even when he returned home they were emailing to check everyone was okay.”

Kirsty's fundraising efforts will see her take on a ten-day trek across the Sahara, which she hopes will help her raise in the region of £2,500 for the charity.