Brothers launch yellow ribbon campaign to raise £100,000 for Combat Stress (From Your Local Guardian)

Brothers launch yellow ribbon campaign to raise £100,000 for Combat Stress

6:50am Wednesday 8th September 2010 in

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Two brothers are hoping brains rather than brawn will help them raise £100,000 to support British soldiers to cope with the mental horrors of war.

Tim and Ant Johnson, of Strathern Avenue, Whitton, have spent the past year thinking of ways to help raise funds for Combat Stress, a charity which specialises in the care of war veterans’ mental health.

The two brothers initially tried to raise money by taking part in an ironman triathlon - but things did not go quite to plan.

Ant, 23, said: “I lost my goggles in the swim and Tim broke his bike, it was an utter shambles.”

And so the former Richmond College pupils decided to ditch athletics and are now hoping to raise £100,000 for the charity through sales of their self-designed magnetic yellow ribbons, which attach to cars and read Support Our Soldiers.

They decided to help the charity after Tim, 26, became aware of the mental effects of war while doing a masters in war studies at Kings College, London.

He said: “More veterans of the Falklands War have killed themselves in the years since the conflict ended than died during hostilities.

“With the campaign in the Middle East we dread to think of what the knock on effects are going to be to soldiers and their families in years to come.

“Combat stress makes a massive difference and helps heal the mental and emotional scars of war for our brave servicemen and women.”

Founded in May 1919, following the end of the First World War, the charity has seen its caseload increase by 75 per cent.

To help meet the demands of ex-servicemen and women a three-year campaign to raise £30m was recently launched by the Prince of Wales.

The Whitton lads are now hoping sales of their magnetic ribbons will help contribute to the campaign and allow people to show their support wherever they go.

Ant, who studied entrepreneurial and Chinese studies at university, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the support we have received, and hope that everyone from Whitton and the surrounding areas will get involved in our campaign.

“Our online sales have started and we hope that we can get these magnets into shops very soon."

The yellow ribbons are available for £2.99 at showyoursupport.co.uk. You can follow the brothers’ Yellow Ribbon Campaign on Twitter at twitter.com/YellwRibnCampgn.