The ATS & WRAC Association Benevolent Fund

The ATS & WRAC Association Benevolent Fund awards one-off and recurring financial grants to purchase specific goods, services or facilities for eligible former servicewomen, or their dependants, in need. The charity also provides annuities to former servicewomen who are elderly, alone, poor and in ill health and makes contributions to top-up care-home fees. There is no minimum service requirement that would bar an applicant from receiving help: financial need is the determining factor in assessing each grant. Applications for grants are made through almonizing agencies, predominantly SSAFA Forces Help and The Royal British Legion, and the grants are paid to these agencies for disbursement on behalf of the charity.

In 2010 the ATS & WRAC Association Benevolent Fund considered 483 applications for assistance. Below is Brenda Morris' story.

During the 1960s Brenda was a WRAC clerk working with the Royal Army Pay Corps as part of a wages team, dealing with the pay for an infantry battalion. She now lives with the constant pain of severe Rheumatoid Arthritis and can neither walk nor stand. She had needed a more comfortable wheelchair for sometime to enable her to stay up for longer. Unfortunately the local NHS Wheelchair Service, that has been very supportive of her over the years, simply did not have the money to provide the chair she needed. The ATS & WRAC Association Benevolent Fund was approached by The Royal British Legion who stepped in and bought Brenda this amazing wheelchair that can raise her up to top shelves in the library or the supermarket and also allows her to recline, enabling her to rest.

The wheelchair cost over £7,000 and was beyond Brenda's financial reach. The ATS & WRAC Association Benevolent Fund donated £1,000, ABF The Soldier's Charity gave £2,460 and The Royal British Legion paid the balance. Brenda can now lead a more active life.