The AFVBC provides vital conversation and camaraderie plus coffee and cornflakes (well, actually, tasty full breakfasts) for Armed Forces Veterans in the UK and worldwide. Since 2014, Founder & Director Dereck Hardman and his network have averaged opening one breakfast club a week, taking the total to circa 500 at the time of this writing.
Veterans’ breakfast clubs are more than somewhere for ex-service personnel to get a delicious meal. They’re a hugely important social support resource for service leavers adapting to civilian life, seeking people with similar experiences or combating loneliness and isolation.
Looking at news stories from 2023 alone reveals a hearteningly widespread emergence of local Veterans’ breakfast clubs across the UK, in major cities and small towns. Here we’ll talk about the positive effects they’re having, and show you how you can find your nearest club.
The numbers
According to 2017 YouGov research:
- 41% of UK Armed Forces Veterans experienced loneliness or isolation post-Military
- 34% reported being overwhelmed by negative feelings
- 27% admitted to suicidal thoughts after leaving the Forces
- Over 31% confessed they have only one or no close friends
- 53% were unlikely to discuss feelings of loneliness with family or close friends, implying limited support for such Veterans
- The following were the main reasons for Veterans feeling lonely and isolated:
- Losing touch with Armed Forces friends (41%)
- Physical or mental health issues (33%)
- Battling to relate to people in civilian life (23%)
Social isolation is one of the issues fuelling Veterans’ poor mental health and suicide. Many, who joined the Armed Forces directly from school, can have difficulty in adjusting when they become civilians as adults.
“You’re part of a machine,” said Mr Hardman of Military service. “When you hit civilian life, problems start, because you feel different, have a different set of ethics and way of thinking.”
The need for Veterans’ breakfast clubs
‘Return to the Tribe’ is the AFVBC moniker (adopted from Sebastian Junger’s TED Talk) – a sense of tribal belonging is hardwired into all of us. They also state it’s not simply ‘returning to civilian life’. Many Military leavers leave the only life they’ve known to become first-time civilians, where they’re now not living with their ‘tribe’ and its familiar support system.
“It’s every man for himself in civilian life,” explained Mr Hardman of the huge cultural shift that often creates the issues which prompted him to found the AFVBC.
Often, the best remedy for Veterans facing social, life and personal challenges is regular socialising with local people who have similar experiences. It’s this kind of simple yet specific and accessible support that the AFVBC and their now global network aim to provide.
What's it like at a Veterans’ Breakfast Club?
The clubs often reflect an ideal society. Older Veterans are valued and respected (in fact, care homes are bringing Veterans in their charge to clubs).
“Nowhere else will you see a 95-year-old D-Day Veteran and a 20-something Afghan Veteran exchanging quips and banter while eating breakfast together – one club has a 95-year-old German U Boat submariner attending regularly!” reported Mr Hardman.
When an older Veteran from a club passes on, it’s not been uncommon to see a guard of honour, standard bearers and a bugler providing a proud send-off to that serviceperson.
An overwhelmingly positive impact
According to Mr Hardman, starting an Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Club in a community creates a ripple effect: “There are now ‘Veterans Hubs’, funded by local authorities, where there were none before.”
Similarly, dedicated events and parades for celebrations such as Armed Forces Day and Remembrance Day are now being organised around AFVBC, and some clubs are interacting with local authorities to address welfare issues for local Veterans.
Excitingly, the breakfast club network is growing – they’re now in New Zealand, Australia, Bulgaria and Thailand, and a French Veterans network is also emerging. Every month in 2023 brought reports of new breakfast clubs opening, with the AFC Wimbledon Foundation, Huddersfield, Burgess Hill, Buckie and Bridport clubs being just a few recent examples.
For Remembrance Month 2023, the AFVBC collaborated with London-based Poppie’s Fish and Chips in offering free fish and chips to all Armed Forces Veterans for the entirety of November 2023. This generous initiative expanded on the AFVBC’s network in a new way and really showed the impact they’re having.
A BBC News story from 14 February 2024 focused on Tom Ripley and Peter Higgins, who got involved with running several Yorkshire Veterans’ breakfast clubs after they suffered with alcoholism and isolation respectively.
“They give us a focus – to get men out of their houses and talk,” said Mr Ripley. “Because men don’t talk, the risks are huge: isolation, self-harm and suicide risk are all fuelled by not talking to like-minded people.” For Mr Higgins, “A breakfast club is about making sure nobody is left behind.”
Several clubs have reported attendance from military charity representatives, who get to meet their members regularly and encourage Veterans to accept help and support. The clubs have created additional benefits for service personnel’s families, including improved outlook, better social interaction and more opportunities.
And just recently, on 24 February 2024, the first official Bradford on Avon Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Club took place at the Castle Inn. According to Spokesperson Christine Giles, “We are Veterans and serving members of HM Armed Forces. Like other Veterans’ Breakfast Clubs, our ethos is mutual support: we have a similar humour and outlook, and the social life we now enjoy is like our service days.”
These are just some of the inspiring breakfast club stories, but there are so many more out there – and so many more to come.
Listen to this BBC London radio interview with Mr Hardman from Remembrance Day 2023.
VOS and Solent-area Breakfast Clubs
There are now four AFVBCs operating locally in the VOS Area: The Portsmouth and Southsea AFVBC, the Gosport AFVBC, the Hayling Island AFVBC and the Old Portsmouth AFVBC in Southsea.
On Easter Saturday 2024, some of the VOS team – including Wellbeing and Volunteers Manager Wendy Pearson – attended a scrumptious breakfast at the AFVBC’s Gosport branch. They spoke at length of the welcoming atmosphere, supportive people and of course, the excellent breakfast.
How to find your local Veterans’ Breakfast Club
Visit the official AFVBC website to find your local Veterans’ Breakfast Club here. You can join the AFVBC official Facebook page here to keep up with their stories and initiatives, and to see if new breakfast clubs have opened near to you – or someone you know who would benefit from joining.
Mr Hardman’s own words make a perfect closing statement: “It would have been wonderful, when my service was at an end, if I’d had an Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Club to go to, so I could have remained, partially at least, part of the tribe when I needed it… hopefully, that is what we will achieve in the future.”
VOS is here to support veterans from the UK Armed Forces service, the Merchant Navy, and their partners. If you know a veteran (from any time of service) located in Portsmouth, the Isle of Wight, Gosport, Fareham or the Solent area, please pass our details along.
If you’re a veteran or partner and are thinking about getting in touch, we would love to hear from you. Call us on 02392 731 767, visit one of our drop-ins, or email admin@vosuk.org.
Please note that VOS is not a crisis service. If you need immediate support, please contact one of the following:
- Your GP or NHS 111
- Attend A&E or call 999 for medical emergencies
- The Samaritans on 116 123 (24 hours a day, 365 days a year)
- A trusted family member or friend
