Bid to 'plug gap' for ex-service personnel
OVER 100 former members of the security forces gathered at Hillsborough Castle yesterday to launch the first group to represent all servicemen and women who protected Ulster during the Troubles.
The Northern Ireland Phoenix Project aims to help former members of the police, UDR, Royal Irish and the prison service, as well as the Garda Sochna.
Yesterday, the consensus from many of those taking part was that the "one-stop-shop" concept of the new group - which will offer counselling and welfare support as well as a befriending service for new members - was "long overdue".
Project chair David Crabbe, who served for 30 years in the UDR and later Royal Irish, said the idea for the Phoenix Project came after a needs assessment of the ex-security services community.
"There are a lot of different groups for ex-servicemen and women so this is about plugging the gaps," he said.
Eric Brown, from the South East Fermanagh Foundation, which played a lead role in establishing the Province-wide group, said some ex-servicemen felt isolated and abandoned.
The Fermanagh group started off with 12 members in 1999 and now has more than 700 thanks to a successful befriending service.
Ex-UDR man David Grimsley, from Kesh, said joining the Fermanagh group was like "coming home to a big family" and is now a volunteer "befriender" himself.
Former RUC officer Sandy Spiers earned a British Empire Medal for his initiative in setting up a community policing programme in the early 1980s in Cookstown during the tension sparked off by the H block protests. It helped stop the mixed communities in the Tyrone town from transforming into solely Protestant and Catholic areas.
Now he is working with the Tyrone East Phoenix project.
Meanwhile, ex-prison officer Jack Moore from Portadown also welcomed the new group. He said there can be a lot of apathy among former servicemen but urged others to come forward and take part to help themselves and others.
The Northern Ireland Phoenix Project is based in Lisnaskea but is opening regional offices in Armagh, Enniskillen, Limavady, Moygashel, Newtownards and Omagh.
They will provide a wide range of services including counselling, complementary therapies, signposting, welfare advice and befriending.
Membership has also been extended to members of the other emergency services such as the fire and rescue service and ambulance crews.
To find out more about the group, telephone 02867 721003, e-mail info@phoenixni.org.uk or write to Unit 3, Manderwood Park, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh, BT92 0FP.`
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Monday 13 February 2012
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