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Welcome to our July newsletter! Thank you to everyone for your amazing response to this programme. We are so grateful to everyone who has taken time to complete our questionnaire and have loved carrying on the conversation with you in our focus groups. Do get in touch if there is anything we can do to help you!

Out and about talking to you!

It has been brilliant getting our first focus groups up and running and hearing from you about what really matters. We’ve been to Birmingham, Plymouth, Edinburgh and Chelmsford so far and have been in Truro and Gosport today! We have many more focus groups planned for the Autumn too, some of which you can sign up for already in Reading, Pontefract or online.

Watch this space and keep an eye on our social media channels and webpage for more opportunities to come and join the conversation.

Click on the links above to find out more, sign up to forthcoming focus groups or read about the focus groups we’ve already held.

Beyond our focus groups, we have been trying to meet as many of you as possible through different initiatives and events involving female veterans. We’ve been boxing with Fighting Chance, attending the Veteran’s Art Knowledge Exchange at London College of Music, University of West London and even found time for a walk up Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

If there’s something you think we should be at, then do let us know and we’ll do our best to be there (although remember there are just two of us!).

Thank you to everyone who has completed our questionnaire, the response has been phenomenal and we are really grateful. To find out more about how the questionnaires and focus groups will be informing the development of our toolkit then take a look at our website here.

Nicky Murdoch is the Independent Chair of the Armed Forces Public Patient Voice Group and on the Steering Group for the Female Veterans’ Transformation Programme. Nicky was in the Army for over 30 years first in the Women’s Royal Army Corps and then the Adjutant General’s Corps (Staff and Personal Support) Branch. She served in a wide variety of roles at regimental duty and on the staff including MOD, specialist intelligence and finally in military music! 

Nicky talked to us about what the Armed Forces Public Patient Voice Group does and what her roles is as its Independent Chair. We congratulate her as a finalist in the Soldiering On Awards Lifetime achievement category.

You can read the full conversation here.

Thank you to Rachael Harger from the Northern Ireland Veteran’s Commissioner’s Office for sharing a blogpost with us about the ‘Sisterhood of Service: Female Veterans in Northern Ireland Supporting Each Other Across Generations’. You can read the full blogpost here and a short extract is shared below.

The service of women in the Armed Forces, particularly in operations on home soil, has a profound and enduring history in Northern Ireland. We do not differentiate on the importance of service in any specific branch of our Armed Forces, however, for purposes of context, it would be improper not to recognise the service of the female members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), known as Greenfinches, as pathfinders in paving the way for supporting front-line units as members of the regiment, as opposed to being an ‘attached’ or ‘supporting’ arm. During the Troubles, women served in the UDR, supporting their male colleagues in various capacities, notably as Search and Radio Operators. At that time, the UDR was unique as the only infantry regiment that employed women within its ranks, with all opportunities in the Armed Forces only becoming female inclusive as recently as 2018.

In 2023, the 50th anniversary of the UDR Greenfinches was celebrated through various events, recognising the pivotal role these women played. Moreover, the Serving & Ex-Serving Women’s Network (SESWN) was established, offering an informal gathering space for like-minded women to socialise and network. This initiative, led by RAF veteran Jen Robinson, and supported with funding through the Veterans Foundation, has seen remarkable growth. The SESWN provides a platform for female veterans and service women to come together, bridging different backgrounds, services, and age groups.

The network organises events that are inclusive and appropriate, such as lunches, afternoon teas, and BBQs. These gatherings are more than just social occasions; they are opportunities for women to share experiences and support one another. The spectacular afternoon teas have become a highlight, fostering camaraderie and connection among the members.

The SESWN is supported by the Northern Ireland Veterans Commissioners Office, for more information please Email: commissioner@nivco.co.uk or visit www.nivco.co.uk for more information.

We have been chatting to Diane Allen about her book Forewarned, reflecting on her time in the British Army. Here she shares with us why she wrote the book.

I wrote the book as a means of processing a traumatic end to an otherwise enjoyable military career. I was one of the first women to train at Sandhurst, in the 1980s, and went on to serve as regular and reserve, until 2019. Over 35 years, I saw career options progress from compulsory departure on childbirth, to the opening of all military roles to women, at least on paper. Yet the bigotry and open hostility I experienced in my last two years did not feel like progress. Nor did it resemble the military I thought I knew and loved. I resolved my confusion by writing about my journey. But my reason for publishing was different. Through research and networking, I had discovered that my negative experience wasn’t unique - the military was treating all those who dared to challenge or who fell victim to abuse with contempt. The system was actually designed to obstruct justice. It was this ‘second wound’, that of gas-lighting victims to keep quiet that was causing so many of us deep pain. So, I published the book as a call to arms – to encourage other serving and veteran women to speak up.

Read on here to learn more about the response Diane has had to the book and what she is working on now.

Female veterans in history: Lady Templer in Malaya

Lady Peggie Templer was a pioneer for women’s outreach during the Malaya Emergency (1948-1960). The Malaya Emergency was a counterinsurgency campaign (otherwise known as ‘war amongst the people’), now compared with the more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. These initiatives were very much seen as an important part of the campaign at the time. Although the Malaya Emergency is not so well known amongst wider public audiences, it remains an important reference for the British Army today and is much written about. However, the stories of women’s involvement in the campaign are hardly known.

Lady Templer championed the establishment of Women’s Institutes across the Province, setting up 270 branches that engaged Malayan women in baking and sewing, and arranging trips. She also supported the roll out of Red Cross teams to deliver healthcare and training to over 200,000 patients. This was women’s outreach on a huge scale reaching remote communities in hostile environments. 

Lady Templer was married to General Templer, High Commissioner for Malaya in the early 1950s and the man to which the phrase ‘hearts and minds’ is attributed. Her work was very much seen by him and other senior officials as integral to the military campaign and yet it has, up to now, been marginalised from the story of this campaign.

Hannah West, our Communications and Engagement Lead, was motivated to study the work of Lady Templer when she realised that the women’s outreach programmes were very similar to the programmes being delivered by the British government in Afghanistan when she was there in 2009. You can read more about Lady Templer in Hannah’s article here (contact hannahwest@fvtp.org.uk if you cannot access beyond the paywall).

Women Veterans Australia (WVUA Ltd) an Australian not-for-profit charity that provides support and services to help women veterans achieve their full potential. It is an inclusive organisation, regardless of gender identity, sexual identity, age, ethnicity, or any other intersection that compromises women veterans’ quality of life. Click on the image below to find out more.

We have set up a new webpage hosting calls for participants in research relating to female veterans. Click on the screenshot below to reach our webpage to learn more about these studies and how you can get involved….