WEYMOUTH'S Veterans Hub has received donations from the Royal Naval Association (RNA) and Aster Group.

The Veterans Hub is a community project set up in 2017 aiming to providing a safe and secure location for veterans and their families to come together in an environment that would enable them to socialise in a and provide peer to peer support for each other.

Each week during the pandemic, the hub has been delivering food boxes and hot meals to those in need, delivering over 8,500 since the start of lockdown. It has also been doing up to 56 welfare calls each week to check on service users.

The No 4 Area of the RNA, which encompasses the South West of the UK, raised funds for the Veterans Hub at its annual area reuinion rally. The cheque was presented to the hub by Alex Oswald, chairman of RNA Portland, as it was the Portland branch who nominated the Veterans Hub. Mr Oswald said: "There are quite a few ex-members of the navy who go to the hub and we thought that they do a grand job there and we keep reading things about them so we thought we would donate to them.

"We have donated the majority of the cash which is £1,800."

Housing association, Aster Group, has also donated money to the Veterans Hub. Aster Group organised a socially distanced VE Day street part in Weymouth in May and raised £190. Debbie Ferris, letting coordinator for Aster Group and organiser of the fundraiser, said: "The Veterans Hub offers an invaluable service to the community. In the past it has helped ex-servicemen and women when they move into our houses by providing furniture, decorating and offering a helping hand."

Andy Price, founder and director of the Veterans Hub, said: "Some of the families we support are among the most disadvantaged in Dorset. Donations like the one coordinated by Debbie are enormously important in helping to make a difference."