A former soldier who suffered with PTSD has unveiled ambitious plans to raise £1.5m to buy a former care home to house homeless military veterans.
Lee Wall, who set up Housing4Veterans UK, wants to convert the All Hallows site, in Bungay, into a new facility.
His Veterans Retreat project would see the care home, which closed in January, converted into accommodation for homeless ex-servicemen as well as a base that would provide support for them.
Mr Wall, who lives in Bungay, said: “I wanted to create something that is all under one roof."
READ MORE: All Hallows care home in Bungay Suffolk to close in January
Housing4Veterans is a community interest company and non-profit organisation.
He has started raising money among the local community to fund the scheme with a Gofundme page and a £4 a month membership fee.
He added: “If we can get everyone to join the campaign, we will be in a better position to approach the government and the MoD for future support."
Mr Wall launched Housing4veterans UK last year but has been campaigning for veterans’ welfare since 2020.
He served in Northern Ireland between 1984 and 1988 in the 1st Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment, at the height of the Troubles, and later spent six months in a military hospital after he left the army.
Several years later, in 1999, he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
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He wrote a book, “Poems, Prose, and Illustrations – A Veteran’s Journey”, which includes poems he wrote while he was in the hospital.
Money from the book sales is going towards the project.
Mr Wall said: "Most importantly we are local, which means the monthly donations stay within East Anglia.
"If the property is sold before we can buy it, there are other opportunities and a second plan in place to acquire land in Bungay and build a purpose-built property."
All Hallows care home closed earlier this year after it revealed the facility was losing £1.2 million annually and only had nine residents.
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