Monday 12 February 2024

Little Troopers free coastal adventure for military teens in May: Applications now open

The charity Little Troopers is hosting a free coastal adventure for up to 60 military teenagers from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th May in Portland, Dorset.

Applications are now open for service families to apply for a place on the two-night residential weekend, which is open to teens aged 13-16 from all three services, including reservist families.

The weekend is an opportunity for the teens to turn their phones off, make new friends and get stuck into a jam-packed itinerary including scrambling, mackerel gutting, fire-building, kayaking, climbing, raft building, swimming and SUPing.

Part of the Little Troopers All Together club, the aim of the project is to celebrate young people who are part of the British Armed Forces community by bringing them together to meet and spend time with others who have similar life experiences.

Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said: “The young people in our British Armed Forces community are a really special group of people who have often been through a lot of challenge and change in their lives. These teens regularly cope with things that their civilian peers just don’t understand. Our All Together residentials are all about bringing these children together to celebrate their shared identity as ‘little troopers’ and to just spend time chatting to others who have been through similar experiences.

“This will be our fourth residential weekend in two years and the teens tell us they take great comfort in spending time with others from the forces community. This residential is going to be extra special with lots of amazing activities that many teens won’t have done before. We can’t wait to get stuck in.”

The All Together residential weekends have been made possible thanks to funding from the Veterans FoundationGreenwich HospitalHDH WillsHenry Sale Foundation and The Prince of Wales Charitable Fund.

The weekend is completely free to attend, but transport is not provided so parents must be able to drop their children off at the Centre on Friday evening and collect them on Sunday afternoon. If the weekend is oversubscribed, priority will be given to children who have parents on deployment.

Families can apply here.

For more information about Little Troopers All Together and to learn more about other initiatives the charity has in place to support service children, visit www.littletroopers.net