Welcome To Bands Of Honour

It won’t come as a shock to most people visiting this website that ex-service members who have fallen on hard times do not always get the help that they deserve. It will also not come as much of a shock that too many do, and will continue to fall on hard times, there are many reasons our brothers and sisters in arms find themselves in situations that aren’t acceptable, not all are financial.

Some find adjusting back into civilian life not as easy as they thought it would be, having been part of a system, sometimes over decades it comes as a shock to find that everything has changed, where they grew up, their old friends are now actually old, with families and have little time for anything else. Their soldier friends are now hundreds of miles away and are still living the life that the leaver has left behind, their own families talk about life events that they don’t recognise and can’t relate to, so can feel left out.

Then there is the trauma that they could have endured, friends killed or maimed, even carrying their own injuries. These events are life changing, not all people can just get their heads down and soldier through it, some will need help, some who need help will ask in their own time and by their own rules. Some will need more support but will keep out of sight, alone and in real need of contact with people.

Nobody, least of all a service member should feel alone! No service member should feel abandoned regardless of if they have left or are still serving, why should they, there are roughly 149,000 people currently serving across the Tri-services and around 2.8 million ex-military living in the UK, so why do military personnel find it hard to speak with so many people out there who they should be able to relate to? The answer is we don’t know who the others are. Various clubs have been set up but not all want to be fully immersed into that scene. What if you could identify other members of the armed forces and veterans or even family members that are proud to be linked to the military even if its just to say “hello”?

Bands of honour was created by Neil Bishop and Paul Dunning. Neil is a former REME craftsman, after serving seven years he left in 1996. Paul is a former REME SSgt serving 24 years leaving in 2014. 

Neil and Paul have worked together for many years, in this time they have always wanted to help service personnel that find it hard to adjust on leaving the forces. In the pursuit to help, they have set up a company to help mechanics to convert from the repair skills honed from working on military vehicles onto civilian commercial vehicles. They have also aided in the setup of placements for service leavers with our partners.

In 2021, Neil decided to make Paul a gift, this came off the back of a conversation about only wearing his medals once a year since he had left the forces. Neil went on to make Paul the first ever Band of Honour based on Paul's medal ribbons, Paul still wears the same band to this day. 

The original idea grew into something more, it was realised that the wearing of the bands would mean a great deal to an awful lot of people, those people aren't limited to just the armed forces but the ambulance service/NHS, fire service, Police, scouts and civil service not to mention civilians that have been awarded medals, often for extraordinary reasons. Also the families of anyone that has had the honour of receiving a medal, that could be a brother, sister, mum, dad, grandparent. It could even be a relation that has served in WW1, WW2 and is sadly no longer with us but still live on through fond memories, it's a great way of honouring and remembering our fallen heroes. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this and please buy a band, for yourself, your wife, kids and family of anybody who has received an award for service.

If you believe that you don't have enough medals to fill the band don't let that put you off.  Solid neoprene bands come to fit between 5 and 10 medal ribbons, in the case that you have less than 5 medals your existing ribbons will be doubled up to fit a relevant sized band unless otherwise instructed. Also many commemorative medals have been made which can be added. Please ask for details.