Firm focuses on county’s veterans

Canterbury Specsavers is supporting the 2025 Veterans Information Fair and Recognition Awards due to be staged in the city on June 10 at Augustine House.

The optics and audiology business will join a dozen other organisations manning information stands at the event which opens at 1pm for a networking and information sharing session. At 2.30pm the awards will start with veteran and Everest mountain climber Hari Budha Magar the VIP speaker at the event. He will be joined by the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Cllr Keji Moses, who has just announced East Kent Mind as her Charity of the Year.

Simon Dolby, Development Lead at East Kent Mind, said: “The charity is delighted Specsavers in Canterbury can support this important event – both with an information stand and also for a senior member of their team to present awards to our remarkable veterans. Our ex-military community give so much to support the people, towns and villages across Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley and it is only fitting that this contribution is recognised formerly.”

East Kent Mind’s veterans project is funded by the Veterans Foundation.

Key details about veterans event

The annual Veteran Recognition Awards and Information Fair will be held on Tuesday, 10 June. The event combines a networking event for ex-military along with an awards session that celebrates veteran support of the community.

To submit a nomination for the Veteran Recognition Awards click here: www.eastkentmind.org.uk/kentnominations

More than a dozen information stands providing details of support available to ex-military, reservists and their adult family members will be in the information zone at the event, along with a coffee station providing complimentary refreshments for ticket holders.  The climax to the event will be the awards which will be supported by VIP veteran Hari Budha Magar.

Book your ticket to the event by clicking here: https://buytickets.at/mindinbexleyandeastkent/1681157

Tickets to the event cost just a nominal £1 (plus booking fee) and enable guests to have complimentary refreshments at the event.

Key details:

• Date: Tuesday, 10 June.
• Timetable: Doors open at 1pm for information fair.
• Awards: Starts promptly at 2.30pm
• Ends: 4.30pm.
• Venue: Augustine House Library, Rhodaus Town, Canterbury – next to Police Station, CT1 2YA
• Parking: We recommend you park at Holman’s Meadow

Who can submit a nomination for the Veteran Recognition Awards?

• Individuals can nominate themselves or nominate others.
• Nominations can relate to the support or an act of kindness the nominee provides to other veterans or members of the wider community.
• Submissions can relate to tasks and duties they perform for their ex-military group such as veterans breakfast club, veterans hub, regimental association or Royal British Legion club.
• Nominations can link to projects or initiatives the individual or group deliver for the community, this might be through volunteering activities.
• Submissions can relate to the nominee’s support of colleagues or delivering wellbeing initiatives in the workplace.

East Kent Mind’s veteran project is supported by the Veterans Foundation.