A BREAKFAST club to help Army personnel suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder has been set up in Dundee.
The club was started by Bob Curran, 60, who served with the Royal Engineers from 1971 until 1975.
The group will meet every Saturday, beginning this weekend at the city’s Counting House pub at 9.30am, and is open to all serving or veteran armed forced personnel.
Bob, a former boxer, said that he wants to help veterans in the area with PTSD and other combat related illnesses. He said: “This is all about giving these people back the banter.
“Everyone will sit down and just have a laugh every week. There are a load of these clubs around the world — it has totally taken off.
“The best thing about it is that it is completely free. People pay for their own breakfast if they want a bacon roll or a coffee, and you just sit and have banter.
“By my reckoning, there are at least 500 people in the Tayside area who are living with issues borne from their days in the forces.”
After hearing about the scheme, Bob, who also trained as a hypnotherapist to help veterans, said that the response has been “brilliant” and he expects numbers to reach around 20 in the coming weeks.
He added: “I have PTSD myself, after I was sexually assaulted as a child.
“I have also written a book about my experiences — Heart of a Lamb, Courage of a Lion.”
Derek Hartman, who founded the scheme, said that the original idea has taken off to the extent that there are now clubs as far afield as Australia.
He added: “I have had wives contacting me in tears telling me that the scheme has saved their marriage, that their husband is the man that they married again.
“Those stories keep you going. There are 2.8 million veterans in the UK and I think Dundee will benefit greatly from the scheme. I know Bob has some real issues with PTSD. The club will change his life.”