Five year old from Plymouth wins place in national military calendar
A five-year-old from Plymouth has been chosen from more than a hundred children to feature in a national charity calendar which shines a light on the unique experiences of military children during the last 12 months.
William Hucker will appear as the January entry in the Little Troopers ‘Through Our Eyes’ 2021 calendar.
William’s Dad serves in the Royal Navy and he is pictured wearing his own little Navy uniform and answering phone calls in his Dad’s office. William was keen to understand where his Daddy worked when he wasn’t at sea; so he popped into work for the afternoon to help. William’s Dad deployed for five months in April, at the height of lockdown, and is due to deploy again in November until spring next year.
William’s mum, Lynsey, comments: “It was really great to be able to show William where his Daddy worked when he is in the UK. It helped him to understand what Daddy does when he leaves for work in the morning. Luckily we managed to do this before lockdown came into force and his Daddy deployed again.”
Their photo will appear alongside other heart-warming photos and stories of real-life military children as seen through their eyes. The calendar also includes a monthly positive message from a celebrity who has either served in the military or grown-up as a military child. Celebrities featured include Mark Ormrod MBE, Colonel Dame Kelly Holmes, Jordan North, Joanna Lumley and Andy McNab. William’s photo will appear alongside a message from BGT’s Richard Jones.
Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, comments: “2020 has been a challenging year for children generally, but lots military children have carried extra weight on their shoulders due to cancelled postings, extended deployments and other pressures.
“William’s photo and the other images in the calendar really capture some of the moments and we hope that by sharing these stories, other military children will see that there are lots of Little Troopers in the world who share similar experiences and are part of this very special community of amazing and resilient young people.”
The Little Troopers 2021 calendar is now on sale costing £9.99 with all proceeds helping Little Troopers to continue providing fundamental resources and initiatives to support military children.
Little Troopers has had a busy 2020 following the launch of its Little Troopers Letters pack for service children who are due to move home soon and wish to keep in touch with a close friend they will be leaving behind. The charity has also just launched a free secondary school resource hub for teachers to support older military children in school and is planning a primary school workshop roadshow in 2021. For more information visitwww.littletroopers.net
