A FARMING family from South East Cornwall have been honoured at the 2018 Soldiering On Awards.

The event, hosted by Jeremy Vine and Vicki Michelle in London, honours those who have served within the British Armed Forces and the organisations which support them.

The Family Values Award - one of 12 - was won by the Connell family, who welcome veterans to their farm near Callington for respite care and therapy.

The farm is the base for the charity Battling On, which was a finalist in the ‘Forces in Mind - Working Together’ category at the same awards and was last year the winner of the innovation category.

It is also the heart of a family of enterprises and educational programmes which help vulnerable people.

Battling On director Nikki Markham’s late grandparents were the first to see the benefits the farm could bring to troubled military veterans, as long ago as 1952.

Lt Col Hugh Connell and his wife Mary bought the farm, between St Ive and Callington, after Hugh’s traumatic service in the Burma Campaign during World War Two.

In an informal way, they would offer food and accommodation to struggling ex-servicemen.

‘We were brought up with the central premise that you support those less fortunate than yourself,’ said Nikki.

Nikki travelled to London to receive the Family Values award with her parents Tony and Liz Connell.

At the start of the evening the Prime Minister sent a message of support and recognition to all the finalists.

Theresa May said: ‘The event provides a fantastic platform to give recognition to the extraordinary achievements of our service personnel, veterans and the groups, businesses and charities that support the Armed Forces community.

‘Their efforts are invaluable and it is only right that their work is appreciated and celebrated.’

Battling On’s citation read: ‘The veterans of Battling On pride themselves in their community-based approach to supporting young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and vulnerable adults to re-engage with their communities using a variety of innovative programmes.  

‘Each year Battling On’s ‘Together We Can Succeed’ programme supports young people who have disengaged with education and have no qualifications, to re-engage through a unique approach, which gives young people the skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty.

‘Veterans support young people to gain vocational certificates, numeracy and literacy qualifications and work experience.

‘The work experience is delivered through volunteering with Battling On supporting over 30 different community groups, charities and trusts with the young people providing over 5,000 hours of volunteering a year.

‘The ethos behind this approach is that for a young person to re-engage with society they first need to feel part of it. Volunteering within their communities helps facilitate this process, breaking down intergenerational barriers and building trust. It also helps young people gain real life work experience whilst utilising their newly acquired vocational skills.’

In 2017 Battling On was awarded The Queens Award for Voluntary Services and has also been awarded the VSF Award for Innovation, Enterprise and Partnership in recognition of its innovative approach to working with other third sector groups.