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About the Brooch
This brooch honours all people who have shown remarkable resilience and courage in the face of adversity. We hope that this goes a long way to recognise their contributions and inspire others.
The accompanying information that you'll receive with the brooch features personal stories of some of these individuals, three of whom are competing in this year's Invictus Games for Team UK.
Elisabeth Lee
Liz, 34, from Leicester is an RAF veteran who will be taking part in this year’s Invictus Games for Team UK. Competing in both wheelchair basketball and rugby, Liz joined the military at the age of 18, and served as a General Technician Mechanic with the RAF for 11 years.
In 2018, Liz was medically discharged due to a patellofemoral joint disorder and fibromyalgia, which caused headaches, body pain and fatigue. Despite experiencing physical and mental health challenges, Liz decided she didn’t want to give up. By using sports and fitness to motivate herself and manage her symptoms, she lost weight and her health improved.
She said, “My experiences in service made me the person I am today, and I enjoyed my time in the RAF."
Liz has also received support from the RBL’s Battle Back Centre for wounded, injured and sick veterans and serving personnel. She participated in a week-long multi-activity course where she had her first taste of wheelchair basketball and absolutely loved it! She found that by using a wheelchair, the strain was taken off her knee and she was able to focus on the game and enjoying sport.
“After leaving Service, joining civvy street was a scary transition and having to deal with my health issues, I found it hard to focus and motivate myself. However, I finally plucked up the courage to attend the Invictus Games taster sessions and I thought, ‘really, what have I got to lose?’.
Sara Howarth
Sara Howarth, 48, served in the RAF for 17 years before suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm. She now lives with the after-effects of a brain injury, including epilepsy, speech difficulties, cognitive challenges, memory problems and neuro fatigue, but has found lifechanging support through the RBL’s Bravo 22 Company.
Contacting the RBL for support in 2016 was the hardest, but the best thing Sara has ever done. The Welfare Team pointed her in the direction of Bravo 22 Company, and she attended the six week ‘Art of Recovery’ course.
Sara realised that despite her speech difficulties, art could be a way for her to communicate. Since then, Sara has taken part in a number of Bravo 22 sessions and credits the virtual sessions for saving many lives throughout the Covid-19 lockdown.
She said, “One of the brilliant things about Bravo 22 is there’s no end date. You can be involved in Bravo 22 until you don’t need them anymore.” “Opening the door to the RBL to ask for help was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Bravo 22 means that we can open that door in other ways – be it through art, theatre, or wellbeing courses. It makes seeking help easier.”
Sara is a founding member of the RBL’s LGBTQ+ and Allies Branch and will be attending a course at the RBL’s Battle Back Centre for wounded, injured and sick veterans and Service-personnel in summer, 2023.
Tilly Fisher
Tilly, 42, had always wanted to be in the Armed Forces from a young age and dreamed of becoming an Officer. So, when the British Army came to her small Fiji island on a recruitment drive, Tilly decided to apply, along with around 5,000 other applicants. From that first round, only 50 people were selected, and Tilly was one of nine women in that number. In 2004, Tilly took a chance and decided to join up.
After training, Tilly was posted straight out to Iraq for her first overseas tour. She said, “It was a shock to go out there for my first tour, but to experience the new sounds and sights, it was scary and dangerous, but being there with your comrades all together was just unlike anything I had done before."
In the last three years of Tilly’s service, she began to suffer from PTSD, but was reluctant to report to the medical centre as she didn’t want it to affect any potential for a promotion. She explained, “I just lived with it and masked it for years and would just carry on as if the feelings I was having were normal. I had suicidal thoughts and low moods, and I just thought, ‘well, that’s part of what I have been through’. Later, after suffering a knee injury, it wasn’t my mental health that led to my medical discharge, but my physical health.”
During that period, sport always kept Tilly going, it gave her focus and motivation. Tilly had always been an athlete and had been a keen member of the Army rugby team. She knew that training her body helps her mental health.
Emmanuel Akor
In 2013, Emmanuel, 41, moved to the UK from Nigeria with his wife, Grace, to join the British Army. Emmanuel loved Army life and served as a tank driver for six years.
At the end of 2019, Emmanuel was involved in a terrifying incident during an exercise in Canada. He explained, “I got trapped inside a tank, fully loaded with ammunition, which caught fire, and the noise inside was unbelievable. I managed to escape but the incident left me mentally scarred and I have suffered with PTSD ever since.”
The RBL has assisted Emmanuel in the past by helping him to ensure his son, who has autism, was awarded the best level of Disability Living Allowance available to him. Emmanuel is looking forward to competing in sitting volleyball, athletics and table tennis as a member of Team UK at the Invictus Games this year.
Brigadier Gael Ramsey CBE
Having come from a strong military background, Gael passed a recruiting office in Canterbury in 1968 - having worked as a Pathology Technician for the past eight years - and decided to join up there and then.
As a Captain in Episkopi, Cyprus, overseeing the evacuation of foreign tourists, Cypriots and their families during the Cyprus Emergency 1974, she was awarded the MBE. Later, stationed in Germany, she worked with the Intelligence Corps and then, in the 1980s, she was part of two studies examining women’s roles in the Army, and concluded that there should not be a separate Corps of women.
In 1989, she became Director of the Women’s Royal Army Corps, and, despite significant opposition, she oversaw its disbandment on 5 April 1992, and the full integration of women into the British Army.
She was the first woman to command a Brigade of 60,000 soldiers, despite it being referred to as ‘Aldershot Area’. She left the Army in 1985 as a Brigadier and awarded a CBE.
The full stories can be found in the information accompanying the brooch.
This brooch honours all people who have shown remarkable resilience and courage in the face of adversity. We want to recognise their contributions and are happy in the knowledge that their stories will inspire others.
The accompanying information that you'll receive with the brooch features the personal stories of some of these individuals, three of whom are competing in this year's Invictus Games for Team UK.
All profits from the Inspiring Stories Poppy Brooch will go towards the Royal British Legion's work in supporting the Armed Forces community.
- Dimensions: 3.5cm (L) x 3.5cm (W) x 1.1cm (D)
- Materials: Brass, Zinc, Enamel, Crystal Crystal
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European Delivery is £14.00, and orders are usually delivered within 5 working days.
Rest of World Delivery is £28.00, and orders are usually delivered within 14 working days.
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