Queen Visits Home For Veterans In Edinburgh During Week Of Engagements In Scotland
The Queen will today visit a new housing development for disabled veterans in Edinburgh as part of her week of engagements north of the border.
She will meet representatives of the Scottish Veterans' Garden City Association (SVGCA) on the visit to Salvesen Gardens.
The association houses disabled veterans in Scotland and has 614 homes in 74 locations across the country.
The charity's Houses for Heroes Appeal, launched in 2008, aims to build 60 new houses and has so far built 22 of them.
On her visit today the Queen will meet those involved in the project at Salvesen Gardens, including representatives of the City of Edinburgh Council and Help for Heroes.
She will unveil a commemorative stone and plant a tree, and will be presented with a posy and sign the visitors' book before departing.
SVGCA manages the Veterans Scotland Central Housing Register which currently has 530 veterans on the waiting list, three quarters of whom are disabled.
Since the formation of the Army Personnel Recovery Unit at Craigiehall in Edinburgh SVGCA has housed 94 wounded veterans transitioning from the army as a consequence of injury sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Where possible it presents houses as 'communities within communities' which allows disabled veterans to integrate into the wider community whilst being part of their own community.