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Welcome to our June newsletter! Our toolkit is now with the creative agency for design, ready to test over the next few months. The Summer will see us undertaking photoshoots and filming across the UK. Whether you're a female veteran, service provider or employer, please get in touch if there is anything we can do to involve you. 

Also, if you or anyone you know is seeking employment at the moment, read on for details of a part time role coming up at FVTP as a Project Officer. 

An Update from the Programme

If you’re reading this, the chances are you already know about our photoshoots. All of this fantastic work to raise awareness of female veterans wouldn’t have been possible without the funding we received from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs and Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust - we are still extremely grateful for this opportunity to make meaningful change.

We had a lot of interest and were truly moved by the incredible response we received; it’s a powerful reminder of the strength and solidarity within our community. If you registered your interest, emails were sent on Tuesday 24th June - check your junk folder if you haven’t received anything.

If you missed out on the opportunity to sign up, read on and you’ll find some other amazing projects - run by female veterans, for female veterans - that you can be involved with. We are happy to announce that our photographers are Agora Photography - with Ian being a Royal Navy Veteran and Lucy having an interest in women’s empowerment, especially in places that they are underrepresented, such as the armed forces community and sports.

We’re also filming at a few different locations - this time focussed more on those providing services for female veterans and sharing ‘what good looks like’ from some of the amazing organisations out there already. There will be a few opportunities for female veterans to get involved if they happen to be at any events that we attend with our film maker, Martin, from Legasee.

A theatre project partnered with Our Space at Theatre Royal Plymouth and The Drive Project is also underway. If this is something you would like to be involved in, please email our Programme Lead, Liza, at liza.jarvis@wraca.org.uk. Keep your eyes peeled on our social media over the next few weeks for any further opportunities.

Thank you to a generous grant from the Veterans’ Foundation, we are now recruiting a part-time Project Officer.

• £30,000 pro-rata 

• 12 month fixed-term contract (with possible opportunity to extend to 18 months depending on start date), 

• Part time – 2.5 days a week, flexible hours 

• Work from Home but with occasional travel required 

If you see yourself as the motivated, self-starting and engaging officer of this transformational project, we look forward to hearing from you!

How to apply 

• Download full job description at wraca.org.uk/jobs 

• For an informal conversation about the role, please email recruitment@wraca.org.uk 

• Applications by way of CV and a Supporting Statement to recruitment@wraca.org.uk 

• Closing date: Wednesday 9th July 2025 midday   

If you want to have a read into what it’s like working for the FVTP, you should check out our former Communications & Engagement Officer’s latest blog post here.

Dr Hannah West, a Royal Navy veteran and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in the Uniformed Public Services (CEEUPS), reflects on her time working for the FVTP.

Over 18 months, she helped gather insights from 600+ questionnaire respondents and 200+ focus-group participants, shaping our toolkit for service providers across the charity, statutory and commercial sectors. Two key themes emerged: identity and collaboration. Notably, only around 30% of women who served identify with the term “veteran” - including Hannah herself - highlighting the importance of asking “Have you ever served?” to ensure support reaches all who need it.

Her reflections underline a commitment to equity, empathy, and creating change through collaboration and shared understanding.

Armed Forces Community HQ CIC is a not-for-profit organisation which was established in Wigan 7 years ago, to provide a safe space for the Armed Forces Community to belong, become socially included, and access better life chances.

They offer a host of activities and programmes, delivered on site and in the community by peers with lived experience that provide advice, guidance and support to veterans, their families and carers as a shining beacon of hope.

Forces Wellbeing Collective is a network of professionals, volunteers and cross sector organisations, joining forces to improve the wellbeing of the Armed Forces community in the North West.

Armed Forces Community HQ Partnership Manager and Army Veteran, Deb Mills-Burns, is instigating a female veteran initiative called Through Her Lens, which will capture the images and stories of female veterans across the region, providing visibility, recognition, and a powerful public showcase of their service.

Due to our limited funding, and the fact that we already knew about Through Her Lens, we thought it best to capture women who served in the North via this project and are working alongside Deb. The Forces Wellbeing Collective are also supporting the project - after all, we may wear different hats, but we all share one mission: to make things better for women who served.

"We want every woman who served to know: you are seen, your service matters, and your story deserves to be told." - Deb Mills-Burns, Partnership Manager

If you would like to be involved in Through Her Lens, please email Deb on Debs@armedforceshq.org.uk.

Armed Forces Community HQ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/armedforcescommunityhqcic

Deb Mills-Burns is also a spoken word poet, and recently featured in Diva Magazine. You can read the article here.

Female Veterans Alliance Spotlight Campaign

Pictured: Stacey, FVTP, left, and Kelly, FVA, right.

Female Veterans Alliance (FVA) was set up by Welsh RAF veterans Lisa Rawlings and Kelly Farr.

“Stronger together – uniting female veterans across the UK.”

The FVTP and FVA are often confused for one another - and whilst our work often overlaps and we collaborate, we are very different.

The FVTP is a 3-year project focused on creating a toolkit for services that support female veterans. We won’t exist much past Summer 2026.

FVA is here for the long haul; building community, amplifying voices, and driving real change. They’ll be around indefinitely.

The insights shared in FVA’s 2022–2023 workshops were invaluable to our evidence review, highlighting what good and bad support looks like, straight from the women who’ve served.

FVA held their first workshop in England last month which our Comms & Engagement Officer Stacey attended. It was full of honest conversations, emotional moments and new connections and was the epitome of a safe space.

If you’re not already following FVA, now’s the time. With upcoming workshops, social events, and wellbeing retreats, it’s a space where you're understood and empowered - surrounded by women who 'get it'.

In addition - they have just announced their Spotlight Campaign.

This initiative celebrates the experiences of female veterans through powerful imagery and storytelling and may offer another meaningful way to get involved. Lisa & Kelly explain:

What is it?

This is a campaign really close to our hearts and something we have wanted to showcase since we started FVA (by accident - a post for another day!) 3 years ago. We are flipping the script on outdated veteran stereotypes - shining a light on the vibrant, diverse lives of women who have served. We will be celebrating identity, achievements, and the power of life beyond Service!

Why are we doing it?

We are both Royal Air Force veterans, and we had such different experiences during our Service - we will share more about us individually in future Spotlight posts I’m sure. We run FVA as volunteers, and the more female veterans we chat to, the more we realise how INCREDIBLE our community is and the sisterhood that we are all a part of deserves to be shouted about!

How can you get involved?

We want to celebrate YOU - our awesome community - and share how amazing YOU are! If you would like to be featured in our ‘FVA Community Spotlight’ series you can nominate yourself or nominate another female veteran by completing this form: https://forms.office.com/e/8AM07KCcvN

How often will we post ‘FVA Community Spotlights’?

The frequency of posts will depend on the volume of spotlights we receive. We want to celebrate as many of you as possible!

“Our ethos is driven by the strong belief that no woman who has served should ever feel invisible. We are pushing for change where it’s needed most and providing a platform so that we are all seen, heard, supported…and celebrated! Thank you for joining us on this journey.”

FVA Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/VeteransFemale

Hannah MacFarlane, RAF and Army Veteran and Owner of Thistle & Cloth. Image credit: Louise Mackay Photography, Brora.

Veteran Hannah MacFarlane founded Thistle and Cloth in 2023 after discovering a passion for traditional hand stitched kiltmaking. As demand quickly grew, she learned the craft is now classed as an endangered heritage skill - one she may be the only individual practitioner of in the Highland mainland.

Noticing that kilts don’t suit all body types, Hannah began designing tartan wrap dresses; versatile garments that honour Scottish heritage with a more inclusive fit. Her work earned her a Heritage Crafts Award (November 2024) and a Regional EDGE Award (March 2025), helping grow her business and expand her reach.

Hannah currently has an offer accepted on the village church, with plans to create a Heritage Centre promoting Hand stitched Kilt making skills and is passionate about creating rural jobs and training opportunities, especially for fellow veterans. She also has aspirations to help service leavers get into Kiltmaking, recognising that the Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Services (ELCAS) don’t offer this yet.

“I would also love to support training for serving members/veterans, I had a real struggle to train and there isn’t yet any Kiltmaking courses on ELCAS which is something I am keen to register with!”

Thistle & Cloth Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thistleandcloth

Our Evidence Review showed that there isn’t much available in terms of female veteran research - either women targeted, or sex-disaggregated - but it’s beginning to be explored more. Want to be part of that change? Check out the opportunities available on our website. Fancy a FREE Garmin VivoSmart 5? Check out the image below reference Combat Stress and King’s College London’s research into physical activity and mental wellbeing.