8:46pm Tuesday 30th June 2009
A teacher has obstructed four students from Christ's school, Richmond, from raising an estimated £850 for Help for Heroes.
The students had planned the concert in aid of the charity for their citizenship project. The concert was due to take place on the 15th July. Help for Heroes had fully endorsed the event, pledging resources such as collection buckets, banners, merchandise and speakers in order for the concert to go ahead. In addition, student Ben Treasure organised for the first female recipient of the RAF Distinguished Flying Cross to speak on behalf of Help for Heroes.
Unfortunately, the head of music at Christ's mistakenly accused the organisers of being responsible for a technical problem in the music room. The concert has now been postponed as punishment.
Help for Heroes is a UK charity which supports servicemen and women who have been wounded in action. It was founded by Bryn and Emma Parry, who initially wanted to organise a bike ride to raise money for wounded soldiers. Today, Help for Heroes operates on a national scale, providing much-needed services such as physiotherapy and housing. In addition, Help for Heroes supports Combat Stress, a mental health organisation for servicemen. Combat Stress has seen a heartbreaking 53% rise in demand since 2005. "Poor physical health, social exclusion, family breakdown, and a whole range of other issues just compound the problems they are facing", says Toby Elliott on the charity's website.
Help for Heroes is currently trying to raise £20 million in order to build much-needed Recovery Houses, which will provide shelter for wounded soldiers.
"We would have liked to give the money to Help the Heroes as soon as possible," one of the concert's organisers lamented. He went on to say that the school is "adamant" the event will not go forward as planned. "However, the concert will still go ahead in September. We are determined to raise the money."
More information about Help for Heroes can be found here: http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/
By Samantha Purvis
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