Refurbishment of charity hub for veterans in Scarborough welcomed
The FirstLight Trust on Newborough has 're-opened' thanks to funding
The re-opening of a charity for veterans in Scarborough is being welcomed by those who use it.
The FirstLight Trust, on Newborough, has opened its doors after a refurbishment, thanks to funding from the National Lottery.
It is a café which anyone can use and offers support to the ex-military.
Kevin Pritchard was in the armed forces and served in the Gulf, Iraq and Northern Ireland.
He is pleased to be back in the building and said: "When you come in you always have a warm welcome. They have people you can talk with to go over your worries and troubles what you've been through in your past life during the army days. They also help you and advise on finances and things like that and get you back on track.
"When you suffer from PTSD, which a lot of veterans do, when you're isolated and you have to stay at home, can't do this, can't do that, things go through your mind and it can be a very traumatic time for some of us. It was hard.
"At the end of the day, we're all brothers at arms and we look after each other. All veterans have got everyone's back and the same with FirstLight, they look after us the same as we look after our own veterans."
He says the national Armed Forces Day in the town in June will be great: "You have every veteran down in Scarborough and I know a lot of veterans from all walks of different lives that come into the town and it's one of the magical events that you could ever have in Scarborough. It brings everybody together and all the community together. It's brilliant."