RAF Benevolent Fund hosts Edinburgh occasion

Edinburgh Castle was home to a special Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund event in mid-May.

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh was in attendance as well as several veterans of the Second World War, among other guests.

It comes after the Fund spend close to £800,000 within Scotland alone during 2013 to support people who needed its help. This includes grants to organisations such as Gardening Leave as well as help for serving service members at RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth.

It's work was boosted at the event, where it was given cheques in donations worth more than £100,000.

There was also a Beat Retreat ceremony featuring the RAF's Leuchars Pipers and Drums and entertainment from the West Scotland Wing Band of the Air Cadets.

The Beat Retreat, which took place in Crown Square and was directed by pipe major Ian Hughes, concluded the reception.

Scotch Whisky company Douglas Laing & Co presented the Benevolent Fund with a cheque for a donation worth more than £8,500. Air Officer Scotland also presented a cheque, this one for a sum worth more than £90,000 – a donation from the RAF Leuchars Charities Fund.

The Douglas Laing and Co donation came after the company released a single sherry butt bottling, all profits from which are supporting the Fund.

"The RAF Benevolent Fund carries out a considerable amount of welfare work throughout Scotland which will continue, whatever might happen in the future," commented RAF Benevolent Fund controller, Air Marshall Chris Nickols.

"We are also very generously supported by many people and organisations here for which we are enormously grateful."

He added that, while there are still people in "the RAF family" that need the Fund's support in Scotland, it will carry on doing all it can to give them this help.

The RAF Benevolent Fund can trace its history almost as far back as the RAF itself, and was founded by the same man, Lord Trenchard, shortly after World War One.