We were honoured to have Ashton under Lyne born Major Bernie Broad talk to us last night at our monthly Tameside Rotary meeting held at Dukinfield Golf Club.

SSAFA is one of our main charities this year and were due to receive money raised at our Beer Festival. Due to COVID and issues with the venue and suppliers this year our beer festival was sadly cancelled. We are hoping to have our beer festival as usual in September 2022 which will also be our 10th Anniversary.

Bernie talked to us very honestly about his time in the Grenadier Guards from 1982 at Chelsea Barracks, to the day of the blast in Afghanistan where he received life-changing injuries. He covered the vital role SSAFA played in making life a little bit easier for him and the other injured service personnel receiving treatment. SSAFA have purpose built accommodation, where he was being treated, so that their families could stay close by. This helped the families and the injured at such a critical time in their recovery period.

Bernie also explained how very important, for him, Captaining the Invictus Games in 2017 was and how this turned his life around for the better. Exercise, a newly-found purpose as well as helping and driving others to achieve their goals and representing their country was the best tonic for Bernie!

RAF veteran Jeff Mellor gave thanks for such an inspiring talk.

President Angela Robbins explained ‘Bernie is a friend of my husband and I. Bernie is such an amazing character, that I asked him to inspire our members and friends to back our forthcoming projects and activities in aid of SSAFA.’ She said she always knew Bernie would be a good speaker, and he was! The club has been receiving emails all morning from people who appreciated what a very special night they had experienced. Last night drew in 42 people keen to listen to the talk including members of Glossop Rotary, Stalybridge & Dukinfield Rotary and friends and family of our club members.

Angela said ‘When I told Bernie at this stage we could only give a smaller amount of money, than we would have liked, to SSAFA as a thank you for him speaking to us last night' (our funds are depleted following COVID), he said to me ‘It doesn’t matter what the amount of money or which charity it’s for, every Rotarian does work for us all and that’s the most important thing.’ That, in itself, she explained says everything you need to know about the generous and kind spirit of Bernie. Tameside Rotary members gave a toast to their guests and our final toast last night, as always, was ‘Rotary and Peace the World over.’, which had far more resonance than usual last night.

We also heard on the evening from Daniel Millan who is a SSAFA District Secretary volunteer and he currently runs a therapeutic allotment in Denton. The allotment is there to provide therapy through gardening but there is also space: to sit, have a cup of tea, paint, read, whatever people dropping by like most to do, or, are able to do - all in a relaxing environment.

A Tameside Rotary fund-raising event is in the planning stages to hold a St George’s Day Concert on Saturday 23rd April, and we will update you with details of how you can get involved nearer the time. All profits will go to SSAFA.

Last night Tameside Rotary donated £150.00 to SSAFA.