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”Helping Hands”

Welcome to your local Branch of RAFA

This is your portal to our branch information, and where to come if you need guidance and help in any way.

The branch was formed in 1931 and is still going strong, we have a membership in excess of 500. We cover a large geographical area, more or less the whole South East of Scotland!

Please spend some time looking at our site, there is much information. We also have a Facebook page, you can find it by following this link. Our Facebook page has more recent information, please ‘follow’ us to keep up to date with this.

We welcome new members, just click the ‘Join RAFA‘ button above, please select this branch as your home. We are always also on the lookout for Trustees and ‘Lead Members’ for our committee, please email any member of the committee by visiting here.

Our aims and values

The RAF Family and its importance in helping create an effective Air Force. Service charities and organisations such as the Royal Air Forces AssociationRoyal Air Force Benevolent Fund and the Royal Air Force Families Federation play a key role in this wider Royal Air Force community. This community is more commonly known as the Royal Air Force Family, and all the organisations work closely with the Royal Air Force to provide the necessary welfare and support to all who are part of it.

For Service personnel to be at their most effective, it is recognised that the Royal Air Force has to provide the necessary community support structure for their families.

The RAF Association is committed to supporting the RAF Family, whether currently serving, or former-serving, in a wide range of ways, delivering help and support where it is needed.

The development of a strong sense of community and feeling of wellbeing amongst all Service personnel and their families helps make our Air Force better by encouraging unity, and helping to ensure that the men and women who come into service want to stay. With such a feeling of community, forces personnel can focus on their work, knowing that their families can access the support they need, when they need it – whether it is while they are actively serving, or after they have served.

How we help the RAF Family.

The RAF Association is here to help the whole Royal Air Force family, providing friendship, help and support to current and former members of the RAF and their dependants.

You do not need to be a member to receive our help. It is estimated that there are around 2.4 million ex-service people, some 33,000 currently in uniform and an increasing number of reserve forces. This group, their families, dependants under 18 years old and dependants with a disability over 18 years old are all eligible for assistance from the RAF Association.

With a UK-wide caseworker network of over 540 volunteer Honorary Welfare Officers undertaking almost 13,000 welfare visits annually, help ranges from simply providing conversation and friendship to preparing and submitting application forms for financial assistance.

The kind of welfare support provided by the RAF Association is wide-ranging: everything from providing home visits and respite care breaks, to offering advice and, in some circumstances, financial assistance in times of difficulty.

Simply, we are here to make sure those members of the RAF Family past and present are never left alone or in need.

You can find out more about what we’ve been up to visit our Facebook Page; some content is shown below.  If you want to get in touch with our branch you can find various contact details here.

***  YOUR LOCAL RAFA BRANCH NEEDS YOU ***

Have you time to spare to support Serving and ex-RAF personnel and their dependents? We are looking for volunteers with an interest and the skills/experience to join our Committee/Trustees in managing this 500+ charity registered in Scotland (SC001190). Skills/experience in charity management, governance, welfare, fundraising, communications (media/pr), or finance will be particularly useful and welcomed. Membership of RAFA will be required, but previous service in the RAF is not necessary – but what is essential will be a willingness “to promote, through comradeship engendered by its members, the welfare by charitable means of all serving and former members of ‘Our Air Forces’, their spouses and dependents, together with the widows, widowers and dependents of those who have died whilst serving or subsequently”.
Not able to volunteer as a Trustee?; no problem – your skills and experience can be equally valuable as a ‘Lead Member’ of the branch ie an active member providing support and advice to the elected Committee/Trustees. Training and ongoing support will be available and agreed necessary out of pocket expenses can be claimed from Branch funds.
For further information or notes of interest – please contact:
Branch Chairman or
Branch Secretary

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