Pull up a sandbag
Publicising a group for Forces & Blue light personnel
Client: Pull Up A Sandbag
Sector: Community
Date: November 2022
Services: PR, Communications
The brief:
Pull Up A Sandbag was a group for serving and former Forces and Blue Light personnel, meeting in a woodland near Colchester.
It was organised by SSAFA volunteer and ex-Royal Marines Commando Fred and Royal Signals veteran Mark (who’s also my husband - Sam).
Many former, and current, service personnel and emergency service workers enjoy the camaraderie of shared experience while they’re in the job. Their professions also expose them to things that people who haven’t served struggle to understand.
The group gathered around a campfire beneath a parachute or tarp shelter, a familiar setting for many. Families were welcome. It was a place for people with a shared sense of humour and worldview to come together, be understood and be around people who share the same kind of history.
What we delivered:
We put together a media release, press pack and set of social media posts for Fred and Mark to share.
We also listed the group on Meetup and conducted an email campaign, targeting local Forces and Blue Light organisations who could spread the word.
Coverage was achieved in several local media outlets, including the Braintree & Witham Times, the Colchester Gazette and BBC Essex radio. The campaign resulted in a good response and although the group is no longer active, it has made a good impact and referred participants on to another local organisation which holds outdoor sessions for veterans.
“Many former, and current, service personnel and emergency service workers have relished their time in the job, enjoying the camaraderie of shared experience.
“They have accepted, too, that their professions have, and do, expose them to some appalling incidences of a traumatic nature.
“This meeting space is a place to enjoy the benefits . . . and help ease the stresses caused by those traumas”