Help for Heroes – Creative Force

Two Devon veterans have been selected to have their work exhibited at a new Help for Heroes exhibition in London.

Veterans Nick Martin and Kevin Preston, from Plymouth, are exhibiting at the Creative Force exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London and online.

They are joining 80 other individuals, supported by the charity, who are showing how the support of the great British public has made a difference to their lives, and the importance creativity is to their recovery journeys.

With 7 people medically discharged from the Armed Forces every single day, the need for support is growing faster than ever before.

Help for Heroes believes that those who have put their lives second deserve a second chance at life. Thanks to the Creative Force exhibition, those supported by Help for Heroes can share their inspiring stories.

Nick Martin
Diagnosed only three years ago, the past 36 years of Nick’s life have been controlled by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The former stores accountant with the Royal Navy spent most of his time at sea and saw action in the Falklands Campaign: “I was on the Atlantic Conveyor when she was hit. It’s the reason why I ended up coming to Help for Heroes all those years later.”

Approaching Help for Heroes two years ago, he credits the Charity in helping him have confidence in his ability to achieve: “It’s opened up a new world to me. Everything I’d done before has been solitary. I wasn’t a social creature at all. I didn’t go out, I didn’t do anything. Suddenly I was getting emails to be involved with other people doing things.”

Art has been hugely beneficial to Nick, helping him to relax, focus his mind and manage his PTSD: “I can spend hours with my thoughts just engrossed in what I am doing. It’s quite fiddly and technical and I must concentrate on what I am doing. While I am doing that my mind isn’t elsewhere. Giving me troubles. Or taking me to places I don’t want to go.”

Kevin Preston

Joining the Coldstream Guards in 1981, Kevin served around the world. While on patrol in Northern Ireland he fell off a wall landing on his backpack.

Returning to work, Kevin was unaware that the accident was to have bigger implications later in life: “In those days if you had an injury in the Army you were no good to anybody. So, you kept all that quiet.”

Leaving the Army in 1985 Kevin found his transition to civilian life difficult: “When I came out I couldn’t settle. I drank heavily and neglected my body. Even though I had this pain down my leg.”

Ongoing pain forced Kevin to give up manual work, but he soon stared a new career. Using the sign writing training he’d learnt in the Army, he began sketching people and their pets, took a business course and set up a studio.

Then, one day his Army accident caught up with him. Unable to feel his leg Kevin was taken into hospital where he discovered the full extent of his injuries.

He had fractured his back which hadn’t healed properly, causing nerve damage: “This was a big wake-up call. At that time, I lost my mobility, I was in a wheelchair. I didn’t know what to do with myself. My business was gone, my trade was gone. I was in a state.”

Nevertheless, Kevin continued to draw and paint, and in 2005 he joined Help for Heroes: “It’s helped me to bring myself back to normal.

“I have a lot more belief in myself and this is all down to the Help for Heroes’ Recovery Centre in Plymouth, where I belong to the art group and enjoy every minute of my recovery.”

Since then Kevin has sold his work in Devon galleries to raise money for the Charity. Has exhibited in London, and is delighted his work is being shown at Creative Force: “I’m chuffed to bits. The Mall Galleries is one of the top galleries in London. Right by St James Palace which I used to guard. I’m over the moon.”

In the last 10 years, military charity Help for Heroes has supported over 19,000 wounded injured and sick Service Personnel, veterans and their families to find new direction, new passions and empower them to create new lives for themselves.

The exhibition runs at the Mall Galleries in London from 7 – 19 August. Admission is free.

The exhibition is also featured online at https://creative-force.helpforheroes.org.uk/