Matthew Cole is a former member of the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment and a member of the Crimshaw Veterans Hub…
“We already run the military rehabilitation and outreach from Crimshaw Farm (https://www.crimsham-farm.co.uk/) which is inaccessible to a lot of people. This is a physical front in the town centre so we can get to even more veterans and more outreach for the community. Then all the money we raise from this can then go back into the rehabilitation and outreach for the military work we do.” and so this bricks and mortar coffee shop was established.
The following was extracted from https://www.crimshamveteranshub.co.uk/
Matthew served for nearly 10 years in the British Army. Enlisting in 1989 into the Queens Regiment, later to become The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (PWRR), he saw active service in theatres around the world, including tours of Northern Ireland.
It was whilst serving in the army that Matt first experienced first hand the devastating effects of mental ill health. On leaving the army he became a full time carer, for 7 years, to his now ex-wife.
After subsequent careers in the Prison Service and Private Security Industry, Matt became part of the Crimsham Farm Project with fellow veterans Shane Glasspool and Craig Pinkney in 2019. He had also received an official diagnosis of PTSD.
Thanks to the combined energy and efforts of these three men, the Farm rapidly became one of the most successful Alternative Provisions for Special Educational Needs (SEN). In August of 2021, after the lifting of COVID lockdown, Matt was instrumental in facilitating the long envisaged dream of Crimsham Veterans’ Hub. a bespoke wrap around service for local veterans and their families. Thanks to his extensive networking skills and despite suffering from a major ischaemic stroke in November 22 he has, almost single handedly, expanded the range of services provided by the Hub, a process that has included the employment of a full time Homeopathic counsellor. Matt’s obvious empathy, past military service and experience of mental ill-health makes him an ideal ambassador for the Hub.
As the Director of the Veterans’s Hub, Matt wants to ensure that no Veteran, Reservist or Serving member of the military is left to suffer alone.
