Shipyard staff to fly flag for Erskine services charity

Erskine, the charity which cares for ex-servicemen and women in Scotland, has announced a two-year partnership with BAE Systems.
The defence contractor, which has yards on the Clyde at Govan and Scotstoun, chose Erskine as a partner to mark the start of a charity challenge which has set its sights on raising £200,000 for local good causes.
Erskine, which was founded in October 1916 to attend to the needs of servicemen wounded in the First World War, has enjoyed long links with the Clyde yards, most notably the Yarrow company.
During its last campaign, BAE raised nearly £190,000 and spent 4,500 man hours on volunteering work.
Navy veteran Billy Menzies, 79, who lives in Erskine accommodation in Anniesland, was on hand at BAE in Scotstoun to help launch the latest drive. He was joined by Willie McLachlan, Charity Co-ordinator at BAE Systems on the Clyde, Catriona Connelly, Glasgow Fundraiser for Erskine, and a crew of electricians who are preparing Type-45 destroyer HMS Dragon for service.
Catriona told LOCAL NEWS that continued fundraising drives were crucial to Erskine’s work: ‘We can only provide our residents with the high level that we do through voluntary donation. The community fund raising target is £8m a year, that’s what we have to find through partnerships like this, through individual donations, groups, schools and clubs. So for us to have a company like BAE Systems on board will not only raise a massive amount of money, it also raises our profile.’
The partnership also involves educating BAE staff, she said.
‘It lets all the staff know exactly what Erskine’s doing, and they’re also going to donate a huge amount of manpower for us through voluntary hours, so we’ve got lots of projects in the offing that they’re going to help out with.
‘There’s a perception throughout the whole country that we are a hospital, that we look after old people who have World War II injuries, and that’s not the case at all,’ Catriona added. ‘We look after people who have been in the services and who have illness or injury.’
Erskine works in partnership with the Ministry of Defence and Help for Heroes – in running a 12-bed unit in Edinburgh specifically for serving soldiers who have been injured but who are uncertain if they’ll remain in services or quit after they have recovered.
Erskine’s story is as much about those who are fighting in Afghanistan, who have served in Iraq and the Falklands as it is of Billy Menzies’ generation, Catriona said.
‘Find out more about Erskine, try and support the soldiers, the airmen, the Navy who are out there at the moment … they’re out there doing a job and they’ve had no say in what they’re doing and they really need the support of their country behind them.’