We have certainly hit the ground running in 2023, with bulb planting, introduction of our three new team members and multiple events planned for coming months…

The Move You In Pack© (MYIP) is a simple concept, to make all Armed Forces families feel welcomed from the moment they walk into their new Service Family Accommodation. It is the opportunity for families to feel valued, that someone has thought about them and their needs for their arrival, to help start their new posting positively.

e50K, sponsored by Amey, was asked to think about the needs of the family for the first few hours on their arrival and how to make sure that the box helps them feel welcomed. A nice brew, something to clean the sides with, the all-important loo roll but also to think about environmental impacts and how the box itself could be recycled or reused.

This week I am holding a Welcome to e50K session with 10 new employees (both paid and volunteers) – this day covers our ethos, Vision and Values and where we came from, and the informal version of the script goes something like this......

Back in 2020 I was sat staring into the face of a friend via a computer screen (thanks again Covid) pondering that very question. As the spouse of a service person what is it that I, that we, actually need? And likewise, what do we want?

A PORTAL to a new world….through the eyes of a technophobe

I am a technophobe .

Not only that, but tech also genuinely seems to hate me and as such malfunctions around me constantly! I think it knows I hate it – it must.

So, you can imagine my friends, family and coworkers' surprise when, after joining e50K a community of military spouses and partners investing time into helping others enhance and develop their unique environments, I began to talk about how important the online portal project would be for the community…

The underlying principle of bid writing is to take a product, service or idea and frame it in its best possible light. Working in this world– semantics are important. You get a limited number of words to convey your point and as such every single word counts. Their meanings must transcend multiple audiences and illustrate several points at once if they are to be successful, so selecting the ‘right’ word to convey the ‘right’ meaning and syntax is key.

I am reminded daily that people often interchange the words care and support and yet to care for is to, ‘provide for the needs of someone’, whereas support is to ‘make it easier for someone to do something’. The difference is subtle but important. One can diminish independence whilst the other helps it flourish.

This time last year, as I think many of us can relate to, I had no real idea where I was going with life. I had just finished my PhD and was actively trying to find a job. Not only had I been out of the work market whilst I had been reading for my PhD, I had also been overseas and out of what had been my career since 2015 as I had packed up my bags and followed by army husband overseas. Moving overseas was the start of a journey that I am only now beginning to realise has the potential to become a disruptor and change agent for others like me who had no real idea of what it is like when you do become a military spouse.

This blog is not to discuss the impact of change, lets just leave it as significant as even though I did not quite know what I was getting into, I did know that life was going to be very different when I decided to move overseas as a dependent wife. I also knew, it was up to me to make it change for the better.

What image does the phrase 'coffee morning' conjure in your mind? For me it represents an era passed - of wives sitting in a municipal environment, sipping tepid tea out of a polystyrene cup and casting around for topics of conversation with people, who are likely only there because it is seen as the right thing to do, to show they belong to a particular community. But is this still the case?

Sat on the bed in the scorching Cyprus heat, opposite my frankly bewildered husband, I final manage to get my words out through bouts of gut wrenching, heartfelt sobbing, ‘It’s not about the cheese, or the lack of money – it’s about not being me.’ Rewind 45 minutes and we are in the throes of a full-blown row. To the casual observer it’s a row about cheese which includes my shouting, ‘I shouldn’t have to explain to you why I need 20 euros for cheese – I’m obviously not just buying cheese am I?!’