PRESSURE on the work of an armed forces charity is set to grow in the next year, the chairman of the organisation's Gloucestershire branch has warned.

Tony Singer, chairman of the Gloucestershire branch of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families (SSAFA), said that the charity was facing a massive increase in the number of calls for help it receives.

Speaking in Gloucester at the group’s AGM on Wednesday, April 22, he said: “The Ministry of Defence is working on plans to slim down the size of our armed forces to meet tighter budgetary figures, but charities like ours are now facing a situation where we have increasing calls for help from both ends of the age spectrum.

“On the one hand we have a growing band of veterans who are living longer and facing new health and welfare challenges, at the other we are needed by an expanding number of younger people who have recently left the services after participating in conflicts, aid and peacekeeping missions throughout the world."

Gloucestershire continues to be the home of five main military bases and 2000 serving troops and their families.

In the recent past they have been deployed to conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Falklands, Kuwait, Northern Ireland and Sierra Leone. In addition they have been called on to participate in a variety of peacekeeping and support projects in places like Africa, Ethiopia and Brunei.

Mr Singer continued: “Like Gloucestershire County Council, we are signatories of The Military Covenant, which means we regard it as our duty to give full support to those who have already answered a call to serve their country when asked to do so.”

SSAFA has been supporting serving and ex service personnel since 1885. It is the longest established forces charity and assists families and close family members, as well as soldiers, sailors and airmen, including those who did national service or were in the reserve forces.