On Thursday 14th March
some twenty soldiers from the new Recovery Centre, Phoenix House at Catterick
enjoyed a day at Blyton Park Circuit near Gainsborough driving and being driven
in a variety of specially prepared cars around the track.
Hosted by Mission Motorsport, the
Forces’ Motorsport Charity, the aim of the day was to introduce wounded service
personnel to the world of Motorsport as part of their recovery and rehabilitation.
The charity was founded in 2011 with the primary aim of aiding the recovery and
rehabilitation of those affected by military operations by providing
opportunities through Motorsport for the wounded. The charity work nationally
with servicemen and women coming through Headley Court and Recovery Centres
such as Phoenix House, and on behalf of Battle Back – the UK military
initiative that uses adaptive adventurous training and sports rehabilitation to
help seriously wounded, injured or sick service personnel and veterans. The charity is formally
supported by Help for Heroes.
The programme has been incredibly effective, and has also
been very successful launching servicemen into second careers. “That vocational element is very important”
explained Mission Motorsport founder, Maj James Cameron “but we often find that
guys and girls have little or no idea of what they can do when they leave the
military. It can be hard enough leaving the Services on your own terms, but for
those leaving through trauma, or traumatic injury it can be extremely
daunting. We do a lot of work on
rebuilding confidence and team skills, and the support of a venue like Blyton
Park Driving Centre who understand our needs is just invaluable”
Richard Usher the MD of Blyton
Park Driving Centre said “We are
delighted to hand the circuit over to Mission Motorsport as part of our
charitable activity and it is very humbling to witness at first hand the
courage of men and women who have been grievously wounded whilst carrying out
their duties .”
Further details about Blyton Park Driving
centre and Mission Motorsport can be found
at www.blytonpark.co.uk and www.missionmotorsport.org
