A military children’s charity brought together military children, whose parents all serve in the British Armed Forces, for an adventure day during the summer holidays.
Little Troopers supports military children from all three services and recognises the unique challenges they face when growing up with a parent serving in the military, such as having their parent regularly deployed overseas. The charity runs a programme called ‘All Together’ to connect forces children through adventure days, workshops and residential weekends.
This August, the charity organised for 90 children to attend Go Ape at six different locations around the UK on the same day at the same time. The children, who had never met each other before, first took part in ice-breaking games before taking to the infamous Go Ape high ropes and zip lines on a Treetop Adventure.
One of the parents attending commented, “It’s a really good idea for service kids to meet each other, value different experiences and build their self-confidence together. I’ve recently been deployed for three months, and my daughter hasn’t seen me during that time, so it was a nice way to spend the morning with her.”
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, commented:
“Children with parents serving in the Armed Forces share a special connection because only they can really understand what it’s like to have a serving parent and the challenges and uncertainty that this can bring. Our All Together programme is all about connecting children so they can benefit from spending time with each other. Feedback from parents tells us that these sorts of events have a positive impact on military children’s well-being and help them to feel recognised and understood for the amazing little troopers they are.”
Go Ape Alice Holt Site Manager, Keri Cairns, said:
“It was fantastic to meet the little troopers and help them get to know each other before they headed into the trees on their treetop adventure. There’s nothing like balancing on a wobbly bridge or zooming down a zip wire to help young people instantly bond with each other and make new friendships.”
The Little Troopers All Together programme is supported by grants from the Veterans Foundation, the Prince of Wales Charitable Fund, the Henry Sale Foundation, Greenwich Hospital and HDH Wills.
Little Troopers was set up in 2011 and now supports thousands of military children each year – both at home and in school – through its resources, events and initiatives.
For more information, please visit: www.littletroopers.net.
