'It exceeded all expectations': Stockport veterans' breakfast club draws in 130 service personnel

The relaunch of a military veterans’ breakfast club in Stockport has ‘exceeded all expectations’ by drawing in more than 130 servicemen and women.

The breakfast club restarted at the weekend (February 5) after a two-year Covid-created hiatus.

Meeting on the first Saturday of every month at The Moor Top pub in Heaton Moor, the club’s organisers hope it will grow into a one-stop-shop for support for ex-military personnel.

“It exceeded all expectations,” organiser Jane Covey told the Manchester Evening News.

“It’s important for the people that do attend. They loved it.”

Having been run for the last eight years, the club was without a home with the onset of the pandemic - until the Moor Top stepped in to help.

Now Jane, who served in the RAF from 1985-1991 as a mechanical transport driver, also said she hoped the project would grow into a ‘centre point hub’ for veterans’ support.

She explained: “We want it to be a centre point hub.

“There’s still PTSD and homelessness [among veterans]. We now have a network of contact and we rally round them and point them in the right direction.

“We have a lot of older guys who are very lonely — and have been through the pandemic.”

One special guest at the event was the Mayor of Stockport, Coin Adrian Nottingham.

“The Mayor gave a fabulous speech. He said it was about being in a safe space and able to have that military banter,” Jane added.

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“That can be quite close to the bone, but we have people that have gone to war and they can be back in