On Wednesday 10 July, the first of a new monthly Veteran's Coffee Morning took place in the Community Room of the Tesco store in Oakham.

Opened with a short speech by Dr Sarah Furness, the Lord Lieutenant of Rutland, the many attending veterans then enjoyed a hot drink, slice of cake and friendly banter and comradeship.

This coffee morning, which will meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 10am, is an offshoot of the well-established and successful monthly Armed Forces and Veteran's Breakfast Club that takes place at the Grainstore pub on the first Saturday of each month.

Local veterans enjoying their cake! Image credit: Ian Reynolds.

To help get this initiative off the ground there has already been some fantastic, and very generous, support from the local community in Rutland and the Lord Lieutenant thanked them all on behalf of the team.

As well as Tesco who generously provide the venue and refreshments, the Lions Club of Rutland have made a generous donation to help with initial set up costs, and Home-Straight Care and Home Help have kindly agreed to free up some of their staff's time to volunteer here each month.

The Veteran's Coffee Morning is open to all veteran's, their family members, and widows and widowers of former military personal. Organisers have said it would be great to see many more veterans attend in the future, so please spread the word!