'More support available': New breakfast club aims to help 'like-minded' Peterborough veterans in Market Deeping

A Market Deeping man is starting a breakfast club for military veterans who he feels are in need of “more support”.

Gary Sansby, 36, is holding the inaugural Market Deeping Veterans Breakfast Club at The Square on the High Street this Saturday (February 11) morning.

The initiative is a timely one. On February 6, the Peterborough Telegraph reported how there are now thought to be nearly 7,000 veterans living within Peterborough.

Gary isn’t surprised by the figures. As someone who has been involved with military support groups, local breakfast clubs and the British Legion for close to 20 years, he knows better than most just how many veterans are actually ‘out there.’

The problem, he says, isn’t so much that there are so many veterans, but rather that so many of them do their best to remain invisible.

This he believes is down to the stoic outlook forces personnel are trained to adopt.

Unfortunately, this outlook – combined with the mental health issues many veterans experience – often serves to set them even further apart from mainstream society.

“The trouble with veterans is that a lot of them are too proud to ask for support,” Gary laments.

“The local authority; yes, they do things for veterans,” he says, “but it’s one of those where we could do a lot more.”

Gary believes more effective messaging is the only viable solution.

“There should be more publicity around the fact there are support groups out there for veterans.”

However, he believes an approach of this kind needs to be subtle as ex-forces personnel are likely to be averse to anything resembling ‘charity.’

“Veterans need to be made aware that support is available - but not [have it] shoved in their faces.”

And this is where the breakfast club comes in.

The gathering will be an informal affair where veterans can meet up, grab a bacon roll and a drink, and spend some time with “like-minded people.”

Giving veterans the chance to “chat about old times and have some banter”, Gary believes, is the best way to mitigate veterans’ mental health issues and encourage some – subtly – to consider seeking support.

The breakfast club will initially run as a monthly meet-up from 9.30am to midday.