On 20th September 2025, Veterans in Action (VIA) reached a new milestone at its Hampshire base, unveiling the newly created Woodland clearing and Parachute enclosure for visitor gatherings and campfires. While not an official Corporate Day, this event signalled the start of a new era for VIA, establishing the woodland as a central asset for the charity’s work with veterans, and for future engagement with corporate supporters and community visitors alike.
Nearly fifty people made up the visiting party, including members of BRUCE, British Riders United Charity Events, and the Ride2Raise Collective. They became the first guests to experience this purpose-designed space, and in doing so, they demonstrated firsthand its enormous potential for supporting VIA’s Corporate Days and broader visitor programmes.
The woodland clearing and parachute enclosure were developed with a clear vision, to create a welcoming, flexible area where groups could gather together in nature, connect around a campfire, and enjoy meaningful activities led by veterans themselves. This project, dreamed up and brought to life by VIA veterans and volunteers, is much more than just landscaping. It is a symbol of what VIA stands for, practical action, teamwork, and an unwavering commitment to veterans finding renewed purpose through shared endeavour.
The new area bridges the gap between wilderness and comfort. It combines the sense of adventure and tranquillity that comes from being outdoors with the practicalities needed to host groups of various sizes, from intimate team-building sessions to larger celebratory events.
Veterans in Action’s Corporate Days are unique in the charity sector. Here, businesses do not simply sponsor an event or donate funds for a photo opportunity. Instead, they participate in a genuine exchange, a day at VIA’s woodland base, led entirely by veterans, who act as guides, teachers, and hosts. In this model, veterans gain confidence, build skills, and discover new roles. Business teams benefit from purposeful team-building and witness the very impact their support delivers.
The new woodland and parachute enclosure now stand at the heart of this experience. Groups can gather around the fire, share stories, prepare food, and take part in activities inspired by military expeditions and bushcraft. This environment encourages open conversation, bonding, and reflection. It creates moments that foster trust and authentic connection, qualities that cannot be replicated in a conference room or at a generic away day.
For companies interested in booking a Corporate Day, or considering a donation in return for a hands-on experience, the message is clear. Your support means more than money. It actively shapes the future for veterans, enabling them to lead, teach, and inspire while helping your team forge genuine bonds, resilience, and understanding.
The group visit that put the woodland to its first real test was a true partnership. BRUCE and Ride2Raise, inspired by the Veterans in Action mission, raised a remarkable £2,530 in support of the charity in 2025, with contributions from events such as Bruce’s Big Bash and additional support from AVoptics and Samworth Brothers. Their decision to visit was driven by a desire to connect, not just donate, and to spend quality time with the veterans they were supporting.
On arrival, the group were welcomed by VIA veterans, who took the helm as hosts and mentors, guiding guests through the woodland, sharing stories of transformation, and leading spirited campfire conversations. Children played, laughter echoed, and a spirit of camaraderie filled the air. The new space proved itself not just logistically sound, but transformative. It offered a natural setting for groups to come together, relax, and engage with one another in a way that is both deeply human and truly memorable.
“It’s about more than fundraising totals,” said Billy MacLeod, VIA’s Founder and COO, in his notes following the event. “It’s about friendship, mutual respect, and shared purpose. They are now part of the VIA family, and together we are building something far greater than any one event or donation.
For businesses, involvement in VIA’s Corporate Days at the woodland is a chance to demonstrate real social value. It moves beyond box-ticking or passive sponsorship to fully embody the spirit of the Armed Forces Covenant. If your company is a signatory to the Covenant or looking for meaningful ways to develop your corporate responsibility portfolio, working with VIA in this setting is proof of commitment in action.
Corporate Days do not just benefit veterans, they help businesses build stronger, more empathetic teams, deepen ties to the Armed Forces community, and show stakeholders that responsible action is embedded in their culture. Through these shared experiences, partners see the people and the purpose behind the charity, forging authentic relationships that last long after the day’s activities are finished.
The woodland clearing and parachute enclosure exemplify the type of partnership VIA champions. Corporate support is not passive, businesses and staff roll up their sleeves, learn, teach, and grow together with the veterans. Both sides benefit.
This is not a “donation for a day out”, it is a fair, purposeful exchange that delivers real connection and measurable impact.
As VIA looks to the future, the woodland clearing and parachute enclosure set the stage for more expansive programming. The charity can welcome larger groups, facilitate more immersive activities, and open up new channels for community and corporate involvement.
Every Corporate Day spent in the woodland helps build a legacy, ensuring that the veterans who lead these experiences are celebrated not only as recipients of support, but as empowered individuals who inspire others.
Likewise, every visitor, whether from a corporation, a community group or a school, becomes part of the story, adding their energy and support to a growing movement for positive change.
The inaugural visit to the new woodland clearing and parachute enclosure demonstrated the power of purposeful space, partnership, and shared endeavour. For businesses considering involvement with Veterans in Action, the message is clear. The woodland is much more than a venue. It is a living, breathing symbol of what happens when veterans are empowered to lead and businesses commit to making a real difference.
Supporting VIA through Corporate Days or donations means embracing a partnership that goes well beyond simple charity. It means investing in people, building skills, strengthening communities, and championing values that truly matter.
“There is no limit to what we can achieve when we work side by side, with shared purpose and respect,” Billy MacLeod notes. “The woodland area is only the beginning. With it, we invite every business and community group to join us. Together, we change lives, and build a future worth celebrating.”
Veterans lead. Businesses give and gain. Partnership with values. Purposeful action that lasts. This is the VIA Corporate Day experience, made even richer through the woodland clearing and parachute enclosure.
I needed focus I needed something to fill my time, well maybe not fill my time but something to focus on like a target, a needed to get back my drive.
I started to help VIA ‘Veterans In Action’ and found something that I could do, use the old skills that I learnt in the army and more since I left which I did not register I had.
I had been missing that motivation to do something that I wanted to do and gain that level of self-gratification and achievement.
Everybody has a skill set, but it’s the motivation to use it we can lose, VIA have various projects on the go all the time, hopefully I have found my niche to help them and myself to gain personal gratification by being a member of a team again and a job well done.
After discussions I realised that it’s this which advances my mental well-being and my ongoing fight against depression and the feeling of worthlessness.
I have woken up, helping hand in hand with fellow soldiers suffering from labelled disorders finding strength from weakness, realising what helps them generally does helps me, the recognition has been an awakening.”
Ian ‘Chalky’ White former 17th/21st Lancers and B Sqn 22 SAS
Veterans In Action have been filming our expeditions for many years for our YouTube Channel, Veterans Expeditions Overland, and through this experience of not only running the expeditions but also capturing footage that enables veterans who have taken part in a place of reference to recapture how they felt by taking part.
The Veterans In Focus project enables veterans to learn new skills and record not only the expeditions we run but also the day-to-day work on all projects connecting them all together so everyone feels involved in all aspects of the work we do.
VIA take a long-term approach to helping veterans who suffer to enable them to grow within a project working alongside their peers. All this can be achieved within this project which can be ongoing and would allow veterans to learn new skills or to pass on skills learned during their time in the services
Some of the outcomes of the project are a sense of purpose, regaining confidence and working in an environment alongside other veterans where they can instantly feel relaxed, chilled-out, secure, and safe.
Veterans can work at their own pace, stop thinking negatively, concentrate, learn new skills, be part of building something, and most importantly where problems are understood this will positively impact mood and stress levels.
For those involved in the project, they can also get involved on an expedition HERE
I became involved with VIA in 2010 after my life took a turn for the worse and was invited along to do some fundraising with them. This helped me no end and in time my life got back on track. I completed a Union Flag Walk with them from Cape Wrath to Land’s End which again helped as walking and talking with other veterans with similar stories was a great help in understanding how I was feeling. I gained control of my life again.
In 2019, I took part in an overland expedition travelling through the Spanish Pyrenees and whilst away my life took a turn for the worse again due to family problems back in the UK. On my return I had to start again and rebuild and focus on the future and with the help of Veterans In Action I got back on track and took control.
I now own and run my own courier business.
Mark Colman former Royal Engineers
To date, we have travelled 25,000 miles travelling through 30 different countries and some of them several times both on overland expeditions for humanitarian aid through the pandemic and more recently supplying medical humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
It is important to note that to take part in one of our overland expeditions we insist that veterans get involved in the BUILD IT part of the project. The reason for this is part of the Post Traumatic Growth process which is our method for helping veterans so that veterans can grow within a team of their peers, learning new skills and relearning old skill sets that may have been forgotten after service.
Leading up to an expedition involves expedition training which will include off-road driving, navigation, camp setups, camp cooking and daily maintenance, something most veterans will understand from their time in the services.
It would be unfair for any individual to turn up on the day of an expedition who hadn’t previously been involved as everyone else would have been working together over a long period of time so due to the very nature of the mental health problems of those we take out on expedition turning up on day 1 for any individual could become very difficult to find where they fit in no matter how welcoming everyone was.
It is the involvement long-term on building the vehicles that enable veterans to grow that gets them to a place where they fully enjoy all aspects of the expedition experience starting from the minute that an overland expedition sets off.