Healing Hands Network receives £3,450 donation from Guild Press Ltd.

Healing Hands Network receives £3,450 donation

Therapists raise funds to treat ex-servicemen and women in the UK

Gary Hackett, MD of Guild Press Ltd, presents a cheque for £3,457 to Healing Hands Network director Sue Stretton.

The Healing Hands Network (HHN) were delighted to receive a cheque for over £3,450 presented to them by Guild Press Ltd, organisers of the Holistic Health exhibition supported by Balens. The money - which will be used to fund the charity's Forces Project in the UK - was raised at this year's events, in particular through donations made at Holistic Health's Chill Out Zone and through the sale of exhibition catalogues.

The donation was presented to Sue Stretton, director of the Healing Hands Network, by Guild Press' Managing Director Gary Hackett, who is also patron of the charity.

The HHN (www.healinghandsnetwork.org.uk) is a small UK-based self-funded charity founded 17 years ago, in the wake of the Balkan conflict and Siege of Sarajevo. Since then, volunteer therapists have been travelling to Bosnia and Herzegovina for a two-week visit where they carry out treatments on survivors of the conflict.

More recently, the organisation has launched the Forces Project based in the UK, providing therapies to returning UK servicemen and women who may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the other mental and physical after-effects of active service.

The donation of £3,457 will help to grow the project further, adding to its work with Combat Stress projects in Colchester, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, London, Liverpool, Cardiff and SSAFA funded homes for the families of injured soldiers including Norton House in Birmingham, as well as Fabcamps in Cornwall and Whitby for the bereaved families of the forces.

Sue Stretton, director of the HHN, comments: "As the charity receives no funding apart from donations, we are extremely grateful for this contribution - especially as it comes from fellow therapists who appreciate the difference that holistic therapies can make to someone experiencing PTSD or coming to terms with amputations and injuries. The money will be used to build on the success that the Forces Project has gained so far and enable us extend the work that our volunteer therapists do across the UK."

Guild Press' Managing Director Gary Hackett adds: "We are very proud to support the Healing Hands Network, and know that the money raised and kindly donated by our show visitors will be put to excellent use and enable the HHN team to grow on the admirable work carried out so far with the Forces Project."

For more information about the Forces Project and Healing Hands Network, visit www.healinghandsnetwork.org.uk or telephone 1885 410 620.