Andrea Bartlett from Oakland in Rutland is one of five veterans selected by Help for Heroes to hone their creative skills and help design a new range of products to raise funds for the charity. The new range is now available on the Help for Heroes website, with Andrea’s tea towel set and t-shirts available here.
Funds raised will support other wounded and sick veterans and their families. The nearest Recovery Centre to Andrea is in Colchester; one of four across the UK. The Help for Heroes Recovery Centre in the East offers a wide variety of creative activities including woodturning, painting, scale modelling and photography.
Andrea was selected to design her tea towel set and t-shirts having been one of many of the veterans Help for Heroes supports to submit their designs to the charity. They first saw the final designed item as a ‘big reveal’ event and photo shoot at Help for Heroes’ Recovery Centre in the South, Tedworth House, when they and the other artists came together and also modelled the items for the charity’s online catalogue and brochures.
Andrea, who served in the Royal Army Medical Corps from the age of 19, rediscovered her love of painting after being medically discharged from the Army for an eye condition in 2011. She found that she struggled to find her pride and confidence in civilian life. However, after starting to paint again, with help from Help for Heroes, at the end of 2017, she found that her confidence and ‘lost pride’ slowly came back. Andrea said:
“I love painting animals, so wanted to paint an animal that represented how I feel sometimes in civvy street. I thought that the British lion was the best representation of the bravery and pride of the British soldier. I gave him a shocked and stunned look, to portray how many veterans feel when they enter civvy street: Lost. After I was discharged, it took me a while to realise that I had lost the pride in myself as a person. Creativity has helped me find myself again; its calmed my nerves and eased my frustrations, especially on days that I’m struggling. It’s given me direction”.
Julian North, Recovery Manager East at Help for Heroes, said:
“The designs by Andrea and the other artists are wonderful. I’m sure they’ll be very popular as Christmas presents. This new range provides a great showcase of the incredible talent we have amongst the veterans we help. I hope it will inspire people to buy authentic items that are not just great gifts, but ones that will do good too.”
Help for Heroes supports anyone who is wounded or becomes ill as a result of their armed service. However, recovery from physical or psychological injury takes time and there is no “one size fits all” approach. Some may benefit from a physical programme, such as sports recovery. However, others, like Andrea, may find creativity eases the daily struggle of living with pain, depression, anxiety or PTSD. Art and design can provide the peace and quiet that they crave, while others find it therapeutic as it helps them to express emotions without words, process complex feelings and find relief.
To see the full Help for Heroes catalogue, which includes a great selection of clothing, Christmas cards & decorations and homeware, visit https://shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/.
100% of the profits from the sale of the items goes to Help for Heroes, providing much needed funds that will enable the charity to support our wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women and their families.
