Grantham: Shine Connect Winter Support 2025

As we approach the festive season and look ahead to 2026, we are pleased to launch our Shine Connect Christmas and Winter Support Magazine which can be found here: Christmas Shine Connect 2025. It’s a practical information guide designed to support people who may be struggling, feeling isolated, or in need of extra help over the Christmas period.
The magazine brings together a wide range of key services from health, care and community VCFSE partners, all in one place.
It includes information on local support available over Christmas and New Year, warm and welcoming spaces for those who need them, free phone helplines offering a friendly voice, and community services that help people connect with others and reduce loneliness and isolation during the holiday period.

Information provided by Grantham HIVE

Grantham: Carers UK Winter Magazine

Carers UK have just shared their Winter Magazine, it has some great carer stories and information -Carers UK

Information provided by Grantham HIVE

Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy

 
Defence sets out commitments to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in a new cross government strategy published on 18 Dec.

To view the Strategy documents, please go to: Freedom from violence and abuse: a cross-government strategy - GOV.UK

Celebrating the Success of SSAFA’s Togetherness Overseas Parenting Programmes

SSAFA are delighted to share the success of their Togetherness (Solihull NHS) online parenting programmes, since launching in April 2025.

Togetherness is available to the Service community living overseas, including UK-based extended family members of Service families assigned worldwide. The BF1 postcode linked to the overseas location where the serving family are based will be needed to access.

What is Togetherness?
Togetherness is designed to support parents at every stage of their journey from pregnancy through to adolescence. These courses empower parents to:

• Understand their child’s brain development and emotional health.
• Decode behaviours and respond effectively to foster positive interactions.
• Develop strong communication skills to nurture confidence, kindness, and emotional awareness in children.

Royal Navy Sailing Association: FREE sailing courses for 8-17 year olds – 2026 dates now launched

Please note that these courses are only available to serving RN, RM and RFA families. To find out more please go to: https://rnsayouthcrew.org.uk/

Wiltshire: December recycling newsletter including Christmas tree collections in January

 

Welcome to the special Christmas edition of Wiltshire Council’s waste and recycling e-newsletter!

This issue is packed with jolly tips and clever ideas to help you reduce waste, recycle right, and keep your celebrations green and bright. Let’s make this Christmas magical for you and sustainable for our planet!

This festive edition includes:

• Household waste, recycling, and garden waste collections over Christmas
• Garden waste collections pause over Christmas
• Recycling centre opening times over Christmas
• How to recycle your real Christmas tree
• Still shopping? Sustainable shopping tips for last-minute buys
• Make sure you’re on the nice list by recycling right this Christmas
• Let’s sort advent calendars
• Festive monthly myth buster

Please click here to read this edition online

Information provided by Colerne & Lyneham HIVE

Mission Motorsport – Christmas message and December newsletter

The Mission Motorsport team have the following Christmas message, which includes a link to the Dec newsletter:

As 2025 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on another successful year of recovery sport. It has been a year packed full of events, some long-standing favourites and some exciting new additions to the calendar. This year saw a trio of exceptional Race of Remembrance events and alongside incredible fundraising for the #YourRoR campaign. Thank you everyone for your outstanding support and commitment. It has been truly wonderful to share so many memories with you all, and we hope you have enjoyed our activities as much as the team has enjoyed delivering them.

Enjoy a read of December's Newsletter as we look over Race of Remembrance, recovery motorsport, some incredible fundraising and ways to get involved with Mission Motorsport in the new year. There is the exclusive first access to the link to sign up to the National Transition Event 2026.

Our staff will be taking some well-earned Christmas leave, and we will be operating with reduced numbers between 22nd December and 2nd January. If you can’t reach the office by phone, please note that the team@missionmotorsport.org inbox will be checked regularly. If you are struggling over the festive period, you are not alone, and we know that reaching out for support can be a big step but there is always an option Mental Health — MISSION MOTORSPORT.

Finally, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you, beneficiaries, volunteers, sponsors, partners, and supporters for your continued commitment. We truly couldn’t do it without you. We’ll be doing it all again in 2026, so keep an eye out for next year’s calendar of events, which will be published soon!

We’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Shropshire Veterans Clinic 2026 - 21 January 2026

 Please book via QR code

Information provided: Central HIVE Hub

Shropshire Armed Forces Outreach Events - January 2026

Information provided by Central HIVE Hub

New Awards Made under The Armed Forces Families Fund: The Early Years Programme

600K Early Years Funding Supports Youngest Service Children

Speaking at the SciP Alliance conference in November, Minister for Veterans and People Louise Sandher-Jones reminded attendees that “Service is rarely an individual act. It’s a collective commitment shared and shouldered by a wide network of people who themselves have to develop the same qualities of strength and resilience that we ask of those family members serving in the military.”

But how does this translate to our youngest service children aged 0-5 years?

In the latest round of the Armed Forces Families Fund: Early Years programme, The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust (the Trust) has awarded 11 projects a share of just over £600,000 to tackle this challenge.

From SEND support and sensory spaces that build emotional wellbeing, to creating stimulating outdoor spaces that extend the learning environment for young service children at childcare settings. The Fund has once again shown the breadth of work taking place to ensure service children get the best start, despite the challenges of being part of a military family.

Getting out and active

Supporting service families at various sites across the country including RAF Valley, RAF Honington and RAF Shawbury, RAFAKidz is the largest provider of early years childcare to the RAF. They’ve received three awards in this latest round of funding to transform the outdoor learning environment at their settings - something they have recently received a National NMT Nursery Award for their Medmenham site in High Wycombe.

Josie Mapes, Executive Director of RAFAKidz, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to the AFCFT and the MOD for awarding us these generous grants. We’re dedicated to creating environments where the children we care for can grow, play and thrive, and this funding will help us do that. We know from our other settings that having access to outdoor spaces is vital for children’s development and for teaching them about the natural world. RAFAKidz Valley and Shawbury are relatively new to the RAFAKidz family, so we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to enhance the outdoor spaces at these settings, giving our children space to enjoy outdoor play.”

Supporting military families ‘needs