Don't force us to sell Mark's medals

&149 Bobby and Jem with Mark's George Cross and other medals

Bob and Jem Wright say the centre offers vital counselling to traumatised soldiers which should be provided by the government, and have issued an urgent appeal, backed by the Evening News, to help them continue.

The couple opened the Mark Wright Project Centre in 2009 to offer social, emotional and practical support to veterans, and it has been run entirely on charitable donations since then.

But in the face of overwhelming demand, they are struggling to meet the cost and say the centre in Dalkeith could close within six months if they do not receive a financial boost.

Mr Wright said that selling the medals - including Cpl Wright's posthumous George Cross - could be the couple's only option. He said: "We're going to be toiling for funds shortly. If it does come to the crunch we might have to think about Mark's medals. We can't lose this place, because we've put everything into it.

"It would be heartbreaking to sell his medals, but to lose this place as well would be heartbreaking. We're now up to over 8000 a month to run the centre, and we've not got the resources to keep going."

Cpl Wright died saving colleagues from a minefield in Afghanistan in 2006, and his parents vowed to honour his memory by helping service men and women struggling to cope with their experiences of war.

Staff at the centre expected to help around 50 people in its first year, but in fact offered assistance to around 180. Mr Wright said demand was continuing to rise, and without more funding the centre would have to turn away veterans or face closure. "When we started the counselling it was one day a week and it's now four days a week," he said.

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"We've had another two lads come in this morning looking for help, that's six guys since Wednesday. I don't know how long we would last without extra money - probably about six months. How do you pick one lad from the other lad and not help them both? This should be the government doing this, not us."

Cpl Wright's medal collection, which also includes campaign medals from his service in Afghanistan, Northern Ireland and Iraq, are currently on display in Edinburgh Castle, but belong to his parents.

Labour leader Ed Miliband is to visit the centre later this month and the Wrights hope to win his support in their campaign for government backing. He will be joined on the visit by other senior military and political figures, including Scotland's most senior army officer, Major General David Shaw.

On the day of the visit, the Wrights will publish research they have commissioned on the quality of services for veterans in Scotland.

Mr Wright said: "We got a Lottery grant to get a private research company to do a survey on veterans' agencies in Scotland - it doesn't make very good reading. It's about what should be getting done and what's not getting done."

Co-founder and centre director Nancy Campbell said it was in vital need of more funding. "I've been involved with Bob and Jem since the beginning, and they were obviously driven to create a legacy for Mark, because he died saving the lives of others and they wanted to turn that into something positive," she said.

"We've all been driven by their enthusiasm and their desire to create something. It became very apparent that there was a need for a service like the Mark Wright Project to provide, first and foremost, a safe haven for guys to come in and chat and talk to people about what they've been through."

However, Ms Campbell said the nature of the centre, where users can drop in for anything from a cup of tea to an in-depth counselling session, has made it harder to raise money.

"It's a difficult thing to describe unless you come to the centre, and it's quite difficult when you're trying to raise funds.

"It's a social place, but there's also information and advice. It's very informal but they have access to all sorts of different things.

"I think the fact that we're doing something that's quite different from existing veterans' services makes it difficult for the funding bodies to understand what we're doing.

"In saying that, the public have always got it. We wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for the support and dedication of the public."

Lifeline offers support and advice

The Mark Wright Project Centre was set up by Bob and Jem Wright and opened in 2009 at a ceremony led by former paratrooper commander Colonel Stuart Tootal.

It is a Scottish Registered Charity (SC040690) and is entirely separate from Mark Wright House, the official Army Recovery Centre at Gilmerton, which last week received a 5m boost from the Royal British Legion. The Mark Wright Project Centre is entirely reliant on charitable donations and the work of volunteers.

The centre, at Hardengreen Business Park in Dalkeith, includes a bright lounge with sofas, TV, internet access and library, along with a gym and private counselling rooms.

It is intended to offer a safe, welcoming place where veterans can relax among people who understand the traumatic experiences they have been through in war zones. They can treat it simply as a social centre, or can talk to counsellors trained to deal with issues such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The idea is to offer friendship and companionship for those who need it, but also to provide a safe path into counselling for those who might be reluctant to seek help through traditional routes. Practical advice is also available on everything from accessing education and training to finding a dentist.

Complementary therapies such as massage and reflexology are on offer to help overcome stress, and the centre runs adventure breaks to rebuild confidence.

Bob and Jem use their own experiences to support other bereaved families and the centre has a bereavement support network with its own online discussion board.

Since the centre was established, wives and families of those suffering from problems such as PTSD, brought together by the charity, have set up their own peer support group.

The charity also runs the Welcome Home Heroes Fund, which provides funds and volunteers to help mark the return of local battalions from tours of duty overseas.

For more information on the Mark Wright Project see www.themarkwrightproject.org.uk.