Celebrating the Overcoming Adversity Award finalists

The first ever Celebrating Forces Families (CFF) Awards Evening will be taking place at the end of April in London and the CFF Team are thrilled to be sharing news of the Overcoming Adversity Award finalists. Three amazing young people will be joining the evening’s black tie celebrations to find out who will walk away with the winning trophy.

This particular award is for a military family member who has experienced and achieved success despite living through an unfortunate event, experiencing difficulties or challenges. This could be based around mental, emotional or social challenges – or all three!

Meet the finalists

Isobel Keating

Isobel Keating, 9 years, is a young carer for her mum Clare who is an RAF veteran (and also a competitor at this year’s Invictus Games at The Hague!) They live with Dad, James who is still Serving and works away during the week and also Isobel’s younger brother, Sam. Mum, Clare is severely sight impaired and Isobel helps take on lots of the day-to-day tasks at home to help Mum. Isobel’s support was particularly important during the height of the pandemic when Clare was unable to receive the support she usually has at home.

We also congratulate Clare, Isobel’s mum who competed recently at this year’s Invictus Games at The Hague.

Nikki Scott

Nikki Scott’s husband, Corporal Lee Scott, was killed in Afghanistan in July 2009. Nikki saw the devastating impact on their children – Kai was 5 and Brooke was 7 months old. She found it hard to find support for them and realised the need for a charity to help bereaved military children feel part of a supportive community. In 2010, Nikki set up Scotty’s Little Soldiers, a charity which has supported and continues to support hundreds of children and young people aged 0–25 who have experienced the death of a parent who served in the British Armed Forces.

Emma Gray

Emma Gray is a Royal Marine widow whose husband died in 2016 of oesophageal cancer. She has since created a website called Rainbow Hunting that provides practical and emotional support for others going through similar difficult times. Having lived with both her own grief and the emotions of their two young bereaved daughters, Emma shares her story and coaches others who may be living with grief or other tricky emotions whilst she retrains as a counsellor.

Award Sponsor, Anglia Ruskin University’s Chief Operating Officer and Armed Forces Champion, James Rolfe, says:

“Equalities, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of Anglia Ruskin University’s innovative and entrepreneurial research and education, and we are proud to serve all parts of our local, regional and national communities. We support military families through the research we do in the Veterans and Families Institute for Military Social Research and through our extensive educational and employment opportunities. We are thrilled to be involved in this unique opportunity to celebrate the achievements of military families, and in particular the remarkable finalists.”

Chair of the Partner Employment Working Group, Sarah Walker says:

“It has been completely inspiring to read the many nominations we had – the hard part was choosing those we couldn’t shortlist. In my eyes, they are all winners! Our military families really do contribute massively to the UK Armed Forces, making it the fantastic community that it is today.

“I am also absolutely delighted to be working with a fantastic event team to bring to life our very first Celebrating Forces Families Awards Evening.”

Military families supporting military families

This event really is being brought together from within its own community. The event team are all military family members themselves – some grew up as military children, others as partners or Veterans. This includes additional resources such as Lee Mowlem from remarkablepixel.co.uk, Helen at helenholtphotography.com, Al Topping of xtremeexposures.com, Hannah Illingworth of hivirtualassistant.uk and Andrea Baker of bsclothingandgifts.co.uk.

Thank you to the sponsors

The financial support provided by the amazing group of CFF sponsors has allowed this tri-Service event to be a truly memorable evening for all families involved. 

All award finalists

You can read about all of the CFF award finalists through the CFF website.

For more information

Explore the CFF website, or you can contact the team by emailing info@celebratingforcesfamilies.co.uk.