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Concert at The Sage to raise cash for injured squaddies

Aug 9 2009 by Joanne Butcher, Sunday Sun

WAR heroes past and present will gather at The Sage Gateshead to help raise cash for injured squaddies.

The concert, in aid of the Army Benevolent Fund, is now in its second year and organisers hope it will become a regular fixture.

Comedian Alan Fox, Britain’s Got Talent entrants Irresistible, and more than 100 military band musicians will be at the variety show on September 19.

And compering will be Major Alasdair Hutton OBE, the voice of the Edinburgh Tattoo.

And as September 3 marks the 70th Anniversary of the declaration of WW2, this year’s show will be dedicated to the heroes of the second world war.

Veterans have been invited along to the show as guests of honour.

“With the death of Harry Patch there are no more WW1 soldiers left so the WW2 soldiers are now the oldest surviving war veterans,” explained Major Eric Ingram, chair of the Army Benevolent Fund in the North East.

“We also want to pay tribute to the present-day soldiers and will be inviting soldiers from the region who have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Those heroes have themselves praised the Army Benevolent Fund’s work in the North East. Frederick Jewett, of Heddon-on-the-Wall, was a petty officer in the Royal Navy and fought in the Malta Convoy and the D-Day landings.

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