FirstLight Trust Press Release – 6th April 2023
FirstLight Trust, the veteran’s charity that for many years has run the Sharpe’s café in Scarborough and Lancaster is delighted to announce that an agreement has been reached which will see ownership of these cafés transferred to The Royal NAAFI (The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes or simply NAAFI).
FirstLight Trust has established a chain of cafés in key towns throughout the UK (Hereford, Gosport, Hawick and soon Falkirk and London) that also serve as hubs for a wide range of activities and provide a local community for all emergency services and forces veterans. FirstLight Trust also supports those particularly in need with additional services: this could be simply company and someone to talk to, rehabilitation therapies or practical assistance with often critical issues of housing and finances. The involvement of NAAFI, an organisation with the resources and mission to give back to service personnel who have been catering to the needs of the Armed Forces since 1920, is a fitting move and recognition of the impact the FirstLight café-hub approach to veteran care has achieved. This is particularly appropriate as NAAFI, as part of the Ministry of Defence is embarking on a UK-wide coffee shop opening programme.
FirstLight Trust will continue to operate in the Scarborough and Lancaster areas concentrating wholly on the support and rehabilitation of those veterans already engaged with FirstLight Trust; and will work closely with NAAFI to ensure the NAAFI coffee shop can continue to be the location for those that need FirstLight Trust’s vital service.
For further information, please contact:
FirstLight Trust,
Tel: 0207 7307545
Email: enquiries@firstlighttrust.co.uk
