Christmas - minus a jigsaw piece

Your loved one is away in a war zone.... be it husband, partner, daddy, mummy, brother, sister...it is a hard time at best but add into the mix Christmas festivities and this can transpire as the hardest Christmas you'll ever have.

Christmas spans over weeks, it is a long drawn out process of parties, school fayres, get togethers, giving and sharing, laughter and smiles...with a loved one away, in our case Tony, it can be like swimming against the current at times. Flying solo at the work Christmas function was tough, not having presents to wrap and put under the tree is strange, for him not to be at Madison’s nativity and Carol service breaks my heart a little and it can evoke feelings of utter resentment to those that do have their family unit together, for them this is a normal Christmas just like any other.

Lack of contact can compound these feelings and emotions of feeling alone at this time of year, walking into a shop playing 'Lonely this Christmas' by Elvis and I am out that door quicker than I walked in!! recently we had a spell of 9 days with no contact/communication at all which the week before Christmas was really tough...but then we had a call and spirits were lifted and Christmas becomes achievable and normality of mood returns.

Madison is 7...Christmas is exciting with or without daddy, obviously she misses him but we have been here before, Christmas will come and go and we come out the other side...When asked how she feels at this time of year Madison said ' It feels really sad and worrying everyday when Daddy is away, but I have written my letter to Santa and the tree is up, I have drawn a picture for my daddy and HomeFront Forces are putting it on the site for him to see. Hopefully my daddy will call on Christmas Day and I will be with my Mummy'

In terms of how to get through this time as unscathed as possible...take loads of pictures, smile as much as you can (they will be out there wearing their Santa hats and having Christmas lunch) and enjoy friends, family and a couple of days relaxing. Its not easy but draw positives that everyday they are away is a day closer to your jigsaw being complete once again.

HomeFront Forces Art Gallery
If you are missing a special person this
Christmas because they are away on deployment
send them a Christmas picture.

launches on Wednesday 22nd December till
Saturday 1st January.

What you need to do

1) draw a picture with a message for your special
person

2) scan and send the image to info@homefrontforces.org

3)then Max and Rhys the special team at http://www.plugandplaysouth.co.uk
will add your picture to the Art Gallery on the kids page

Madison and her Patron's Certificate

It was great to spend time with Madison and
present her with a Patron Certificate.

We also filmed for ITV Meridian watch this space for when it will screen.

Louise and Madison Fetigan talk to BFBS Radio

Louise Fetigan and her 7 yr old daughter Madison talk to BFBS Radio about Homefront Forces.

http://www.esnips.com/r/hmfl/doc/8c8961ef-2ac5-4dae-a3a2-72f91469eb81/50-7-YEAR-OLD-PATRON-OF-HOME-FRONT-FORCES-EXP-311210

Christmas Gallery for Forces Children

Today, HomeFront Forces a website established to support the estimated 175,000 children in the UK with a parent in the Armed Forces, announced that during Christmas they would be hosting a Gallery where Forces Children could post pictures to a loved one.

Patron, Madison Fetigan aged 7 said,

"I think it will be great to draw a Christmas picture to parents in Afghanistan and make it a special Christmas for them too and make you and your parent happy at Christmas. Love HomeFront Forces Patron (MF)"

Anna Matthews one of the founders said ' We were overwhelmed when Plug and Play, a Southampton based Creative Web Design company came forward and volunteered to create the Gallery and upload it for free over the Christmas period. This will be a great way of demonstrating and raising awareness of the need for our website and service. It is sad that the site at the moment is not fully commissioned due to lack of funding, and an offer likes this that gives a hint of the usability of the site long term is very exciting.

Director of Plug & Play; Rhys Little says:

We recognised Homefrontforces.org as being a worthwhile and crucial organisation. We all know someone who has been touched by conflict in some way and having met the founders, we saw an opportunity to really delivery a unique platform that isn’t available today.

Social media applications, although useful in the public domain, fail to deliver the security, usability and accessibility required for service men and women and their families, due to the sensitive and confidential nature of serving in the armed forces

Currently, forces families have to depend on infrequent, erratic and brief telephone calls, as the main way they can communicate. This means children often miss out on speaking to absent parents and can't share with them the day to day ups and downs of family and school life. Homefrontforces.org will provide a child friendly, secure web portal, where families can create their own private web pages and can post pictures, video messages and all the little domestic details that help keep families in touch. The 'Your Family Page' will act like a virtual 'fridge door' of day to day messages that can literally be posted while tea is cooking.

Lorraine Bilton, Founder of Homefrontforces.org said

"As the wife of a Naval Petty Officer and mother of two I have spent many long and lonely months separated from my husband. Separation is a fact of life for service families and goes with the terrain but we can now improve how families keep in touch. Our website will enable service families to keep in contact in a more personal manner than the occasional phone call. Too often my husband has called and missed the kids as they were out playing with friends. Our site will allow him to post messages whenever he has a free moment and regardless of the time zone he is operating in. The kids will also be able to post pictures and messages at a time that suits them.
Contacts for the site are as follows

Anna Matthews 02380 238289
anna@homefrontforces.org
twitter @HomeFrontAnna

Lorraine Bilton 07889078570
lorraine@homfrontforces.org
twitter @HomeFrontLor

Homefront Forces Appoints Young Patron

HomeFront Forces Appoint Patron aged 7

Today, HomeFront Forces, a website to support the estimated 175,000 children of our Armed Forces, appointed a new patron; Miss Madison Fetigan age 7.

HomeFront Forces announced today the appointment of Miss Madison Fetigan aged 7. Anna Matthews, Director of HomeFront Forces said this was "in recognition of her positive outlook. We are delighted that Madison has agreed to become a Patron for us, because the website is all about supporting children like her during separation from a parent due to deployment"

When the founders of HomeFront Forces made contact with Louise Fetigan, Madison’s Mum, through Twitter, they loved the way that Louise and Madison decided to channel their energy during a difficult period into positive action. They got in touch with us to see how the site could help and began to plan a 'My daddy is a soldier Trek 2011' in March to raise money for Help4Heroes. Madison and her family truly represent the children and families that our website has been established to support. Madison’s daddy is going to be away for Christmas this year after leaving for a tour of Afghanistan on the 18th October and is due to return end April/May 2011.

Madison Casey Louise Fetigan (7) born in Germany 25th June 2003 has expressed how she feels about her Dad being away:"I feel sad, worried, scared and frightened because my Dad is in Afghanistan. My Mum has helped me a lot since he has been away but my Dad is always in my heart. My Daddy is a hero."

Louise Fetigan, 28, an-ex soldier herself, saw service in Kosovo and is the partner of Lance Corporal of Horse Tony Fetigan (29) who serves with the Household Cavalry. She said, "We have come through various challenges so far on this tour of duty. We wanted to focus on something positive. Madison is doing a 'My daddy is a soldier Trek 2011’ on the weekend of 13th March 2011 in aid of Help4Heroes along with 3 other girls she knows and they too have daddy's who have served in Afghanistan"

Currently, forces families depend on infrequent, erratic and brief telephone calls as the main way they communicate. Children often miss out on speaking to their parents and can't share with them the day to day ups and downs of family and school life.　 http://www.homefrontforces.org/ provides a child friendly, secure web portal, where families can create their own private web pages and can post pictures, video messages and all the little domestic details that help keep families in touch.　The family's page acts like a virtual 'fridge door' for messages that can literally be posted while tea is cooking.

The site also allows families to seek support and advice from each other. HomeFront Forces have major development plans for the site and are seeking financial support to achieve this. The HomeFront Star Supporters campaign http://www.homefrontforces.org/support/ is the best way for businesses and individuals to give their support.

Louise Fetigan said "Madison and I are delighted to be involved in the Homefront forces website and are keen to raise awareness of what will be a fantastic support system for service families when the site is fully commissioned. When Madison was feeling very sad about her Dad being away I searched for user friendly tools to help her. I found very little that was useful until I came across Homefront forces. The site they are developing is brilliant. It will be great to be able to post messages from the family, show pictures of Madison at Christmas or playing with her friends."

Monique Bateman, Director Royal Navy & Royal Marines Children’s Fund said "It's a brilliant idea. Anything that helps service children get through the difficult time of separation is fantastic. This site will provide a great coping mechanism for them and their families."

Louise and Madison Fetigan are available for interview and photos.

For further information please contactAnna Matthews, Homefrontforces.org
on 023 80238289
or Anna@homefrontforces.org