Christmas comes early for veterans' charity as Swindon security firm donates £9k

A Swindon-based specialist security provider has donated almost £10,000 to ensure a charity has hit its fundraising target in a year in which many organisations have suffered a huge downturn in donations.

Mission Motorsport, which works with wounded, injured or sick (WIS) service leavers and veterans, holds an annual Race of Remembrance endurance event on or around November 11, normally raising £50,000 to continue its vital work.

However, due to Covid-19 the event was cancelled this year. In lieu of this, the charity hosted a series of alternative socially distanced and online events, to help combat the deficit in fundraising.  

Now, SSGC, which earlier this year deployed 700 security officers, many of whom were military veterans, to marshal Covid-19 testing centres across the UK, has written a cheque for £9,000 to ensure the charity’s annual £50,000 target was reached.

This follows a previous £10,000 donation to its chosen charity partner earlier in the year by the Swindon-based security firm, which last month won a prestigious national award for Security Partnering Initiative of the Year for its work with Serco managing Covid-19 testing centres on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

SSGC is a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant (AFC) and managing director David Stubbs, himself a former military police officer, said as part of this commitment to the armed forces community, it was important to be able to support Mission Motorsport in what has been a particularly arduous year for charities.

David said: “We made the decision to support Mission Motorsport as our chosen charity partner earlier this year and were genuinely delighted to be able to help tackle this shortfall in their fundraising coffers.

“We said from the word go that our support would constitute more than simply donating money and that we would be working with the team at Mission Motorsport to help its ongoing commitment to getting WIS personnel into meaningful employment.

“However, as with charities up and down the country, the pandemic has seriously disrupted its fundraising plans and with the cancellation of its annual Race of Remembrance, it was quite clear to us that this £9,000 donation would make a real difference for them.”

A service charity and a member of the Confederation of Service Charities, Mission Motorsport has an award-winning collaborative model of working with government and other service charities to help those affected by military operations by engagement through sport.

James Cameron, CEO and founder of Mission Motorsport, said: “We were all hugely disappointed to have cancelled our annual Race of Remembrance this year. The team worked extremely hard to provide alternative events, not only to raise funds, but ensure that anybody that required it was supported through a difficult time.

“With this in mind, it’s a huge boost to receive this £9,000 donation from David and SSGC. The money has ensured we can continue to provide vital resources and plough on with the valuable work we do with ex-service personnel. 

“I know David is particularly passionate about supporting veterans and this is reflected in SSGC’s wider support and signing of the AFC, which, in turn, we will support them with as they look to work towards gold status.”

For more information about SSGC, visit www.ssgc-net.com or search for SSGC on social media.

For more on Mission Motorsport, visit www.missionmotorsport.org.