Operation Magpie

[Martin H]

Who remembers the thread about helping UK ex service men/women posted up by lenny100 a few months ago?

Well were now up and running with a charity kit collection going under the name Operation Magpie

Ive been laying the ground work for this since SMW2007 when Lenny asked the SIG if we could do something to help him give something back to a charity he has recived a lot of help from.

The Charity is called Combat stress. http://www.combatstress.org.uk/ I wont say to much about them as their web site tells you more than I can.
they have three treatment units around the UK, and the one were looking to help is a place called Hollybush house in southern Scotland. Theres a new activity/arts and crafts centre were Lenny has built a number of his creations, and the place has limited modelling stuff to allow others to see what our hobby has to offer. This is where we come in...........

To stop me waffleing on ill post the text of the flyer we have been handing out.

         Operation Magpie.

In the run up to SMW07 I was asked by one of our number if we could help out a charity he's been receiving help from.

It's an Ex-services charity called Combat Stress. Its aim is to provide treatment to those service personnel who have suffered psychological illness as a result of their service.
They have three treatment centres around the UK and our member has been receiving treatment at Hollybush house in Scotland.
There is a newly built activity centre at Hollybush that uses arts and crafts as a form of treatment. Model making is just one activity on offer. But they have used up the kit donations that they have managed to gather locally. And our member has given every thing he can from his own kits, and now it's our turn to help out those who have given almost every thing they have for their country.

We (the what if? SIG) are mounting Operation Magpie
" this is a kit collection operating from The What if? SIG stand to allow its members (and anyone else who would like to) to leave any donations of kits paints tools etc for us to donate to the charity.
Our intention is present the collection at the Scots Nationals in Perth at the end of April, to members of the staff from Hollybush house.
If you want to learn more about Combat stress they have a web site www.combatstress.org.uk

Thanks for reading this.
The I.P.M.S. (UK) What If? SIG team.

Now if any one on the forum wishes to donate anything to this. then contact me via the PM system and I can let you know were to send the donation to.

[Gary]

Considering the support I got for Kits for Kandahar from the lads on this site, and from chaps in England, count me in for a bunch of kits from Canada. Could you post a Magpie address. I didn't find it on the website.

I believe in this sort of thing and those who wear the uniform and stand the wall with the intent to protect our rights and freedoms, regardless of nationality, deserve our support. Right on!

[Martin H]

PM Inbound gary

[lenny100]

A story from last weekends sunday post which describes why places like holybush house are needed and why I thank you all for helping

Sentenced to life in their own private prisons 

By Adam Docherty

SCOTTISH soldiers involved in the clean-up operation following the Lockerbie bombing are still receiving psychological treatment for emotional trauma 20 years after the terrorist outrage.

Like convicted bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, they, too, are serving a life sentence.

As the row over the future of al-Megrahi — and his possible return to Libya — simmers between Holyrood and Whitehall, we can for the first time provide an insight into the ongoing suffering of some of the ordinary men and women who helped retrieve the bodies of the victims.

Therapists at Hollybush House in Ayrshire, run by the charity Combat Stress, recognise some of the men and women they're treating could be "prisoners of their own minds" for the rest of their lives.

The death toll from the 1988 disaster was 270 from 21 countries, including 11 in Lockerbie. High winds had scattered victims and debris along an 80-mile corridor over an area of 845 square miles.

Around 600 men of The Royal Highland Fusiliers were rushed in to help clean up.
"Some of the soldiers still have difficulties with recurring intrusive thoughts," explained former SAS colonel Clive Fairweather, a senior fund-raiser at Hollybush House.

"I know of at least three having long-term treatment at Hollybush all these years after the terrible event.

"No matter the training you receive in the army or any of the services, it's still a profound shock when you come across a dead body or multiple casualties hideously maimed.

"Finding a dead child can be even more troubling, especially if it seems the mother tried to cradle it from danger despite falling thousands of feet.

"Finding body parts or fragments of clothing, suitcases or spilled toys in such a grim yet normal setting are equally disturbing and there may be flashbacks many years later.

Triggered

"These can be triggered simply by going with your family to the supermarket. It may be a sudden sound or smell or a certain image.

"Then the memory plays the horror movie which always has the same ending — one you can't get away from.

"So many who were at Lockerbie — soldiers, policemen and others involved in the recovery, civilians and relatives — may be prisoners of their own minds for ever, certainly long after any other prisoner of the state may have gone home."

The Lockerbie inquest heard how a mother was found holding her baby, two friends were holding hands and a number of passengers were clutching crucifixes.

A flight attendant was alive when found by a farmer's wife but died before her rescuer could summon help. A male passenger was also found alive and medical authorities believe he might have survived had he been found earlier.

For many days Lockerbie residents lived with the sight of bodies in their gardens and in the streets, as forensic workers photographed and tagged the location of each victim to help determine the position and force of the on-board explosion.

A boy found lying at the bottom of steps was described by one resident at the time as "a young laddie with brown socks and blue trousers on."

They continued, "Later that evening my son-in-law asked for a blanket to cover him. I didn't know he was dead. I gave him a lamb's wool travelling rug thinking I'd keep him warm.

"Two more girls were lying dead across the road, one of them bent over railings. It was just as though they were sleeping."

Flashbacks

William McClung, originally from Ayrshire, was 29 at the time. He was one of the first soldiers to attend the site and reckons he was one of the last to leave.

As a recent outpatient at Hollybush House he believes he's only now able to manage his flashbacks. Although a corporal in the 1st Battalion The Royal Highland Fusiliers, this was his first encounter with corpses.

"We arrived in the darkness and our first duty was to knock on doors to find out how many people were missing," he recalled.

"But the search for bodies began in earnest during daylight.

"We were issued with body bags and scoured the whole area. I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

"Many were bodies of children and I found this difficult to deal with. I believe recurring images of those scenes eventually led to me leaving my wife and daughter several years later. I just couldn't cope with 'ordinary' family life after the scenes I'd witnessed."

Just two days after the search was completed the images began to weigh heavily on William's mind. He still can't bring himself to describe them in detail.

"The nightmares began soon after and no matter where I was the flashbacks of those dreadful scenes interrupted my thoughts," he explained. "There was no stopping them. No matter what I did they wouldn't go away.

"At that time there was no-one to talk to, no counselling facilities whatsoever. We were left to deal with it ourselves.

"I didn't understand what was happening to me as my mental state deteriorated. By 1996 I was a sergeant but I'd also developed a perforated ulcer."

That year William, based in Belize at the time, bought his way out of the army in the forlorn hope that life on Civvy Street would end his anguish.

The flashbacks were getting worse and he had trouble concentrating on any task.

Life collapsed

After leaving the forces, William moved to Hertfordshire with his wife and daughter and managed to hold down a responsible job as a telecoms engineer. But it didn't last.

"It wasn't until 14 years after Lockerbie that things came to a head and my life collapsed," he revealed. "I disappeared, walking out on my wife and daughter. We've now divorced.

"In reality I was walking out on society. I went to see a civilian psychiatrist. He gave me pills and said the symptoms would go away but they didn't.

"I came back to Scotland and, while living in Ayrshire, my cousin told me he was working at Hollybush House with soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He suggested I attend for counselling.

"One morning in 2004 I found myself sitting in their car park. I plucked up the courage and went in. For the first time I was given counselling and useful advice on how to deal with the intrusive thoughts by people who knew what they were talking about.

"The thoughts and images had persisted and worsened, however, the cognitive behavioural therapy really helped. The flashbacks are fewer now and at last I think I have my mind under control. I'm one of the lucky ones.

"When I heard deals were being done over the sentence of al-Megrahi I felt angry. I don't remember the Government stepping in to help us.

"Several of my old comrades are being treated at Hollybush and it's likely they'll need treatment for the rest of their lives.

"Even if al-Megrahi is set free these men will still need help. Where is the justice in that?"

[Martin H]

what was the reaction to the first delivery of kits Lenny?

It looks like Magpie is going global, Yesterday I recived an e mail offer of a donation from a gent who belongs to the same model club as our own Allan in Canberra

So far we have gathered in excess of 200 kits, 60 of which lenny took up to Holybush direct from the huddersfield show. We have done better than i could have expected, and we still have two collections to run. (Southern Expo and Cosford).

[lenny100]

not going up till the 15thg due to me haveing a bad dose of flu over the last two weeks, but i will be tackeing them up with me then and so will my camra so phots will be avalable

[Martin H]

good man