Bishop's Stortford Armed Forces Veterans Breakfast Club and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance receive grants from Hertfordshire county councillors

Grants have been made to a breakfast club for armed forces veterans and the air ambulance service which serves the Bishop's Stortford area.

The Bishop's Stortford Armed Forces Veterans Breakfast Club (AFVBC) received £699.50 for promotional flags and a club standard through Hertfordshire County Council member for Bishop's Stortford Rural division Cllr Graham McAndrew's £10,000 locality budget.

The club was formed by Royal Navy veteran Mark Greatbatch to give veterans and serving members of the military somewhere to chat about their experiences. It meets at JD Wetherspoon pub the Port Jackson in Riverside Wharf on the first and third Sundays of the month, from 9.30am to 12.30pm.

Their latest member was 96-year-old Intelligence Corps veteran Patrick Field, who worked at Allied code-breaking centre Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, in the latter part of the Second World War.

Cllr McAndrew said he was pleased to support the club, which was taking a leading role in ensuring veterans who are socially isolated had "a safe place with like-minded individuals who can offer support".

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance has been awarded £1,000 for items such as fuel, flight suits, protective vests, aircrew flight helmets, medical packs and miniature ultrasound scanners, through the locality budget for Cllr Alistair Ward-Booth, the county council member for Bishop's Stortford West.