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The achievement of Valley Veterans' founder and chief executive Paul Bromwell was celebrated at a prestigious ceremony at Windsor Castle when he was presented with his MBE by HRH The Princess Royal. Paul was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) for services to veterans and vulnerable people in the King’s Birthday Honours list. Honours are a way of celebrating extraordinary people who go above and beyond to change the world around them for the better. Paul, accompanied by his wife Sian Bromwell and their daughters Rhian and Lowri, travelled to Windsor for the ceremony where he was presented with his medal by Princess Anne in January.

Valley Veterans is delighted to announce that it has received £20,000 funding from the Army Benevolent Fund to help deliver a wide-ranging programme of physical and mental health support for veterans, reservists, serving personnel and their families. Recognised as a model for holistic Armed Forces support in Wales, Valley Veterans offers a dedicated mental health service for veterans, as well as equine therapy, horticultural activities and meaningful outdoor work, all designed to support emotional wellbeing and reduce loneliness. "We are sincerely grateful to the Army Benevolent Fund for funding the essential support we provide to veterans in the community and we very much look forward to our new partnership,” said Chief Executive Paul Bromwell. The charity’s partnerships with NHS Veterans Wales, Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board, Cwm Taf Morgannwg MIND and Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board ensures that people can access specialist help quickly and without repeatedly retelling their story. The Army Benevolent Fund award will help strengthen this vital, person-centred model. The twice-weekly support hubs provide warm, welcoming spaces with hot meals and opportunities to socialise. The hubs also host clinics and advice sessions delivered with partners including SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity, NHS Veterans Wales, MIND, Diabetes UK, RCT Citizens Advice Bureau, RNID Cymru and Rhondda Cynon Taf Council ensuring easy access to mental health support, physical health checks, benefits support and practical guidance The support hubs run every Wednesday from 9am to midday and Thursday from 9am to 3pm.

Valley Veterans was delighted to be presented with the SSAFA Shield for its collaborative work with the Armed Forces charity. The Shield was presented at SSAFA's AGM in March at Maindy Barracks, Cardiff.

Solar power is to be installed into the cabin on our site thanks to funding from Coalfields Regeneration Trust – Wales. This will make a significant difference to the support provided to veterans and community organisations and companies who attend our site to volunteer their services. Many thanks to Coalfields Regeneration Trust – Wales.

Hosted by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, in collaboration with Valley Veterans and more 30 regional organisations, the event held on 26 June 2025, brought together Veterans and their families, and partners from across the region. It was a day of connection, support, and gratitude - reminding us that caring for those who have served our nation means caring for their health and wellbeing too. The Highlights report was published on a very special day for Valley Veterans - 5th November – our 5th anniversary as a registered charity. Read the report here. https://ctmuhb.nhs.wales/news/news-files/veterans-report-english-pdf/ Watch the video highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYstCJClH0Y&t=2s

A sad week this week for us as a much loved member of the group Terry Card sadly passed away on the weekend. Terry was only up with us at the allotment on Thursday and his presence will be sadly missed by us all. Valley Veterans would like to extend their huge thanks to Age Cymru for funding the latest food hampers for our members, all of which have now been distributed. Their valuable assistance has enabled us to make and distribute the food provisions and covered the cost of the Community Centre which was used as a storage and distribution hub. We are extremely grateful to Age Cymru for their help. The over 3 tons of scrap metal has been taken off our site and the crop growing for 2021 is well under way with cauli, cabbage, courgettes, onions, beetroot just waiting for some warmer weather before being planted at the allotment. The Zoom chat was again well attended and the usual fun and banter ensued. Finally all at Valley Veterans would like to extend their sympathies to the Queen and her family for the loss of her husband, a veteran himself who has served this country and the commonwealth for many decades and set a great example for all to follow.

It’s been another busy week here at Valley Veterans. Clearing and flattening the land has continued and over 2 tons of metal has been dug out of the ground including an old railway carriage. There’s still a lot of work to do up there and Paul and the gang are still looking for any help that anyone can offer. The Zoom chat was well attended with around a dozen members joining in and catching up. The last of the latest batch of food hampers have been delivered to our veterans homes. The only thing that went wrong was a small underground plastic fire up the allotment. The Treorchy fire station were called and quickly extinguished it. No damage was done and all the animals are safe. We got to chat to the firemen and they have agreed to do fundraising for us in the future which is great news.

Yet another busy week for us. After a generous donation from the Canolfan Center in Pentre of Easter Eggs we distributed them to our members. The Zoom chat was well attended again with over a dozen veterans taking part. The digging on the land for the 4th week and the transformation is amazing if a little bit muddy! We have rounded up all the scrap metal that was dug out and got it in a skip. This was done with the help of many of our veterans and their kids helping Paul and the boys out. Now the land is safe for the horses to exercise on. On behalf of the Valley Veterans we wish you all a fantastic Easter and hope you enjoy your eggs.

Over the difficult last 12 month the Valley Veterans has been busier than ever. We have achieved a lot of work at our equi-grow site clearing the land, adding drainage, expanding our hen house and facilities, growing our first vegetables and provided continued support for our members that use this important part of our organization. Our weekly Thursday morning Breakfast Club had to be suspended due to the restrictions and to protect our members but we have moved them onto Zoom as a way to update and check on each other as well as an opportunity to catch up. To achieve this we have had help to equip some of our veterans with tablets and internet connections and managed to teach them how to work it all over the phone. We have also been supplying hampers and food vouchers to our most vulnerable and isolated members to help them through these tough times. As some of our members needed extra support we have also gone shopping for them, taken them to hospital appointments and to receive their covid vaccinations and helped in any way we can when they have asked for our support. We have attended cenotaphs when we usually do to pay our respects within restrictions and have sadly not been untouched by the virus and have attended several funerals and paid our last respects for our members who have passed during the pandemic. None of this would have been possible without the help of our backers, supporters, members and funds we have managed to arrange to do this. Behind the scenes the committee is working hard to secure funding for the general running of the group and the expansion of our equi-grow site and are building contacts and applying for funds to speed this up. As we look forward to things returning to normal soon there is much work to do and things to look forward to as our organisation will grow and prosper in the future to provide better support for all our members and we can all meet up again.