This Christmas residents of The Beacon in Catterick Garrison ask “Do You Remember” in a song about the struggles of veterans with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) and who are homeless.

With Christmas celebrations drawing near many people will be remembering their families and friends in planning for the festive season. However, homeless veterans living with PTSD know their struggles with the illness will not go away just because it is Christmas and can often seem much worse when everyone around them is enjoying themselves. This Christmas promises to be different as the residents want the single to raise these issues and raise funds to support ex-Servicemen and women affected by them.

“When you are in the armed forces you are there to do your job and serve your country and you take the rough with the smooth” said Trevor Morris, Area Manager of The Beacon. A veteran himself of over 22 years in the armed forces, Trevor wrote the song, Do You Remember, which was released on iTunes on 1 December 2012.

“But there’s no getting away from it that Christmas can be a tough time for veterans who can feel forgotten, some of them are struggling to rebuild their lives and families after the experiences they have had in the armed forces and it’s these guys who are at risk of homelessness and who we work with.”

Trevor composed the song and his friend and professional record producer, Ian Sidgwick, wrote the music and did all the production free of charge. Trevor then called in help from the veterans at Riverside’s The Beacon to join in and give the song some real feeling.

“We were also incredibly pleased to have the children from Wavell Junior School Choir which is near The Beacon as our backing singers. As The Beacon is within Catterick Garrison many of their parents have just been deployed to Afghanistan so their support was very heartfelt.”

Each time someone downloads Do You Remember from iTunes and other digital stores worldwide, the profits will be donated to help Riverside’s veterans via Church Housing Trust.  Church Housing Trust is the charity partner of Riverside ECHG and fundraisers to support homeless people across England including many homeless veterans.  

“Riverside-ECHG has provided support to over 10,500 homeless veterans in the last decade by running a national housing advice line and housing, support and training centres. We know that there is always more demand and more people we could help and donations are vital to this,” concluded Trevor.