"I was awarded a grant by The Bishop Laney Foundation to support me after leaving Soham Village College and starting as a young apprentice with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

The money was used to buy mandatory safety equipment, tools and stationery for my time in the shipyards and without it, I would have struggled terribly with the salary including food, travel and lodgings.

I was commissioned into the 4th Royal Tank Regiment and over the next 16 years served in Northern Ireland, Cyprus and Kuwait in peacekeeping roles, and Iraq in the second Gulf war and tours of Afghanistan. I retired as a Major and with a list of qualifications experience and training.

As I now sit at 50 years old, I reflected with my wife that none of this would have been possible had it not been for the money given to me by The Bishop Laney Foundation"