A CARE home arranged for wartime veterans to be presented with badges to mark their contribution to the nation’s security.

Sgt Maj Ray MacKenzie presented residents of Cedars Care Home in Southend with HM Armed Forces Veterans lapel badges, which were introduced in 2004 for those who served in the Second World War.

Home manager Jan Horsnell said: “We have residents here who served in the Army, the Air Force, the Navy and the Land Girls, so we have a complete mixture, but lots of people don’t enquire to see whether they’re entitled to the veterans’ badges.

“We had families here as well to watch the presentation so it was quite an occasion.

“Residents have also been making ceramic poppies based on the ones at the Tower of London with our activities coordinator, Debbie Day, and some of the residents have put those in the garden.”

The presentation of the badges, on Armistice Day, came after a Remembrance service at the home and was followed by a champagne reception to celebrate their contribution to the nation's security.

 

Special artwork display

The three large artworks, created at the Avro Viking Centre in Southend, will be on show until Sunday at the Forum in Elmer Square, Southend.

On Monday, August 4 – the 100th anniversary of the day the First World War began – service users and staff from Avro Viking Day Centre in Avro Road, Southend began creating the pictures which have just been completed.

David Norman, Southend Labour councillor responsible for adult social care, health and housing, said: “These striking pictures are a tremendous achievement and we hope as many people as possible will come along to see them exhibited at the Forum in Southend.