Edinburgh

We were delighted to be invited to join the Female Veterans Networking event hosted by the Lothians Veterans Centre at the Scots Guards Club in Edinburgh. It was attended by about 50 female veterans from across all 3 services as well as Susie Hamilton, Scottish Veterans Commissioner and representative from Help fof Heroes, Fares for Free, HNS Scotland, Combat Stress and the Thistle Foundation.

We had the opportunity to share an update on the programme with the audience before inviting them to come and talk to us to about the change they would like to see in service provision for female veterans. We asked attendees to add their thoughts in writing on post it notes to various posters asking for them-based feedback on things they felt ‘must’ happen or ‘should’ happen as well as their reflections on branding, imagery and language. We also had a printed copy of our Statement of Need which helped to stimulate conversation also.

We were thrilled to be inundated with people wanting to talk to us and we learnt so much from everyone. We came away with so many notes that will be really important to our next steps of developing the toolkit further. We are hoping to return for next year’s event to share the toolkit itself. Thank you to Pauline Cherrington for putting together such an amazing event and making us feel so welcome.