Military charity calls on hospitality for help

Give Us Time connects service families with hotels and resorts that have empty rooms to fill during low seasons.

It was set up in 2012 by Dr Liam Fox MP - a former army medic - to allow returning soldiers time to reconnect with their families after long periods away.

“When someone’s been away for a long time home life carries on without them, but when they walk back in through the front door they expect it to carry on as normal,” said Karen Hay, CEO of Give Us Time.

“It can create problems and stresses, so [Give Us Time] offers the families a chance to go away to a neutral environment to reconnect.”

The charity works with army welfare officers who put forward deserving individuals and families that are going through problems.

There are currently 1,000 soldiers and families register on the site.

“We’re not asking for money or donations, all we’re asking for is hotels or holiday companies to donate spare capacity,” said Hay.

“From a hospitality point of view we would be enormously keen if anybody has any rooms that they’re not using then we’d love to find a good home for it.

“It’s such an adventure for the kids and we’ve seen some lovely diaries about exactly what they’ve done every day.

“There was one soldier who had been put forward whose daughter is her carer and her husband has to be away a lot, so it was an amazing thing to be able to do for them.”

Hotels or holiday companies wishing to find out more can visit www.giveustime.org.uk​.