'Sport is great, but so is meeting other veterans'

Armed forces veterans have been sharing their experiences at sports sessions set up to bring them together as well as keeping active.

The walking football slots have been set up by Walsall FC Foundation - the team's charity arm - which is also running coffee and chat sessions to support former armed services personnel.

People are signing up for different reasons, with one man taking part after undergoing a triple heart bypass, organiser Chris Springthorpe said.

"One of our younger guys that served is really interested in speaking to those that served before him," he explained. "That's really good for them to have those discussions."

The initiative has been launched as part of events for Armed Forces Day, which takes place on Saturday.

Mr Springthorpe said the idea came up last year, because although many ex-forces personnel take part, but the foundation didn't have any events set up with them in mind.

He said walking football was chosen because it had already proved popular.

A pilot is running for the next 16 weeks, Mr Springthorpe said, adding: "We have a lot of support for the armed forces already and we just want to build on that."

According to the charity, about 2.2% of Walsall's population is a member of or veteran of the armed forces, equating to about 6,500 people.

Mr Springthorpe said the activities gave people something to focus on each week and a chance to meet people.

"Speaking to people that have been through the same as you can only benefit really, because you know they can see things from a similar situation to you. That's a really big part of it," he said.

Adding that to physical benefits was "brilliant", he said. "Adding on to that, the mental health benefits, the social benefits of building those connections and those new relationships, it's what we want to see."

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