British Nepalese mountaineer among the recipients of Points of Light awards

Three members of the veterans community have received Points of Light awards as part of events to mark Armed Forces Week.

Points of Light awards recognise outstanding individual volunteers – people who are making a change in their community.

Two veterans have been awarded Points of Light awards for collectively raising almost £500,000 for armed forces charities. A veteran spouse has also received the accolade for reaching thousands of listeners across the world with her armed forces podcast.

Since the creation of the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, the government has been making an ever increasing effort to highlight examples of veterans supporting their communities, excelling in their new careers and enriching our society.

This is a key part of this Government’s goal of making the UK the best place in the world to be a veteran.

In lockstep with service charities and organisations, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is working to encourage positive public perceptions of veterans, ensure every veteran can find quality employment and deliver world-class services that meet the needs of veterans and their families.

Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Rt Hon. Johnny Mercer MP, said, “It’s been a privilege to award such deserving individuals for the selfless work they’ve done to support armed forces communities up and down the country.

“I’m proud of the work the government is doing alongside service charities to deliver a step-change in support for veterans and their families, from dedicated healthcare pathways to eliminating veteran rough sleeping this year.

“I hope that everyone this Armed Forces Week can take a moment to thank the contributions the military communities have made in keeping us all safe.”

Award recipients include Hari Budha Magar from Canterbury. Hari is a disabled mountaineer who recently completed a climb of Everest and became the first double above-knee amputee to summit the mountain. Originally from Nepal, Hari served with the Royal Gurkha Rifles, and lost his legs in Afghanistan after stepping on an improvised explosive device. He has since completed multiple record-breaking mountaineering challenges to so far raise over £270,000 for Armed Forces charities, including ‘Gurkha Welfare Trust’.

Hari Budha Magar said, “Sometimes we get injured and become disabled. At that time we need courage to carry on with our lives. It’s very important that we feel able to do things even if we have a weakness. It’s about inspiring other people to climb their own mountain.”

Jess Sands, from London, set up ‘The Milspo Network’, an online community of over 1,300 military spouses, partners and other halves (Milspos) from across the UK to provide support, networking and help with setting up businesses alongside the requirements of military family life. Jess was inspired from her own experiences of regularly moving house and lifestyles while her husband served with the RAF, launching the network in 2019 off the back of a successful podcast series that reached over 14,500 listeners in 20 different countries.

Jess Sands said, “There’s 1,300 of us [military spouses] running our own business, the majority in married quarters all over the world who are normally the support act. We look after our serving person as well as running our own business. It’s brilliant that we can showcase Milspo and get a bit of light on us as well.”

Darren Edwards, from Stratford-Upon-Avon, is a disabled former Army Reservist who has raised over £200,000 for the Armed Forces Para-Snowsport Team by completing a number of gruelling challenges. Since becoming permanently paralysed in 2016 after a climbing accident, Darren has kayaked the length of the UK, rowed the English channel, and earlier this year became the first handcyclist to complete the World Marathon Challenge, completing seven marathons in seven days on seven different continents. He has most recently been part of the first fully-disabled team to scale the largest ice-cap in Europe.

Darren Edwards said, “It’s an honour and a privilege to be here and to be recognised by the awards. Hopefully it’s a platform from which I can continue to do whatever I can to support those who are on their journeys to recovery. Ultimately, to give them the same opportunities that I’ve been given as a wounded or injured veteran.”