Registered Charity No. 1142494 FELIX FUND | Supporting Bomb Disposal Experts since 2011 | Follow us on

FFELIXIX FUNUNDTHE BOMB DISPOSAL CHARITY

Felix FundVauxhall BarracksFoxhall RoadDidcotOxonOX11 7ES

Tel: 07713 752901Email: enquiries@felixfund.org.ukWebsite: www.felixfund.org.uk

Follow us on Facebook.com/Felixfund

Registered Charity No. 1142494

Everyday bomb disposal and search personnel con be faced with highly pressured situations. This continued exposure to intense stress can have lasting effects, both mentally and physically. Felix Fund is here to help this unique group of men and women.

We can help personnel from any military or SO15 (Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Unit) who have been involved with EOD and search duties, and their families. You can be serving or retired and you do not have to be injured to qualify.

Felix Fund is here to help:

• Royal Engineers

• Military Working Dogs

• Searchers

• Drivers

• Infantry Escorts

• Electronic Counter Measures Operators

• Ammunition Technicians and Ammunition

Technical Officers

• SO15 (Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Unit)

• Weapons Intelligence Specialists

• RN Clearance Divers

• RAF Bomb Disposal

Requests for help can be made online through our grant application form.

Visit www.felixfund.org.uk/need-our-help/ or by calling 07713 752901.

Get in touch

FELIXIX FUNUNDTHE BOMB DISPOSAL CHARITY

THE BOMB DISPOSAL CHARITY

Need our help? Support us Funding the work of Felix Fund depends on the commitment and hard work of individuals, groups of volunteers, companies and other organisations.

By supporting Felix Fund, you can help us make a positive difference to EOD and search personnel and their families.

• Make a one-off donation• Organise a fundraising event• Purchase from our online shop• Join in with a national campaign; Big Blast, Bangers & Bacon Butties• Enter a challenge event• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter• Become a volunteer• Sponsor individuals• Leave a legacy• Sign up for our quarterly e-newsletter

Please support these heroes and their families

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Vauxhall Barracks, Foxhall Road, Didcot, Oxon OX11 7ES | www.felixfund.org.uk | enquiries@felixfund.org.uk | 07713 752901

Who we are How we can help Financial support Other ways we help

About usFelix Fund is here to help any military or SO15 (Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Unit) personnel who have conducted or assisted with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and search duties.

We provide welfare support and financial assistance to serving and ex-serving military and their families.

Mental health supportIn the first years of its existence Felix Fund provided normalisation breaks for over 100 EOD teams on their return from Afghanistan. Breaks consisted of a week’s adventure training plus the opportunity to regroup with colleagues (as teams were brought back together after their tours were completed) and they proved vital in reducing the risk of poor mental health among individuals in these teams.

Financial support to individualsFelix Fund provides financial assistance to serving and ex-serving military plus family members when they find themselves in times of need. This has ranged from helping with transport costs for regular hospital visits with a sick child, help with a large funeral bill and funding towards a flight home for a soldier whose father was dying.

Grants to unitsFelix Fund provides limited grants to units to enable them to engage in adventure training activities, which is hugely beneficial in reducing work related stress and enabling greater team bonding. We have also helped units refurbish on-camp welfare facilities in order to provide a comfortable and relaxed environment for individuals to spend time away from work and singles accommodation.

“The mindfulness course has helped me both in and out of work. I feel grounded and more

capable of handling the stresses life throws at me, and I am making more productive and

sensible decisions.”

“Felix Fund paid for a specialist chair for my husband after his second stroke. He was in

bomb disposal in WW2. This has made such a difference to him as he can now sit in comfort.”

Other examples of how Felix Fund can help include a wheelchair for the wife of a serving soldier as she suffers from MS and could not go out with her young family. An adapted buggy for the son of a soldier who was born with severe disabilities and funding towards travel costs for a soldier who lost both legs in Afghanistan, who had to journey to Australia for the pioneering surgery he needed to enable him to walk with prosthetics.

Financial support has been given to help the injured through home adaptations, for example, the installation of a lift for a multiple amputee, funding for a specially adapted vehicle and the purchase of specialist equipment, such as electric wheelchairs and bespoke sporting equipment.

Today we continue to focus on mental health issues and have a new welfare programme providing training in mindfulness techniques. Known as the Dashboard Courses; the idea being if a light comes on the dashboard of your car and you ignore it, the car is likely to break down. Likewise, if a light comes on in your own mind and you ignore it the same could happen to you.

The aim of these courses is to provide tools and techniques which will enable individuals to recognise warning signs and to be able to develop their ability to relax, clear their minds and focus on positive aspects of their life. This will feedback into a more productive and stress reduced work and home environment.

“Felix Fund helped with costs which enabled me to travel to Australia for pioneering surgery.

Being able to walk on prosthetics after so long in a wheelchair has turned my life around.”

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