Cheers for Heroes!

GLASGOW, Scotland, November 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Help for Heroes and Tennent's on a Mission to Raise £500,000 with Launch of Charity Beer

Help for Heroes has joined forces with the historic Tennent Caledonian brewery for the launch of an official new beer for the charity - which aims to raise £500,000 to support the UK's wounded servicemen and women.

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131123/654573 )

Beer drinkers are being urged to make a difference this Christmas and throughout 2014 by picking up packs of Help for Heroes-endorsed Tennent's Original Export when it arrives in Asda stores across the UK from mid-November and in other retail outlets from early 2014.

Over the next year, every penny of Tennent's profit from this charity edition of the beer will go directly to Help for Heroes - which offers wide-ranging support to those who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses whilst serving our country. This is provided through grants to individuals, other Service charities and four Recovery Centres across the UK which will offer support for life.

Tennent's Original Export is a premium beer brewed in Glasgow using the finest natural ingredients. It has been specially packaged for the campaign in a newly designed bottle featuring the blue Help for Heroes logo alongside the iconic red T of Tennent's.

The campaign couldn't be more fitting for Tennent Caledonian. There are few products around today that could be enjoyed by UK troops hundreds of years ago, but Tennent's beer is one of them. The Glasgow-based brewery has been producing and exporting fine beers since 1740.

As the 100^th anniversary of the start of WW1 approaches in 2014, the business was inspired to do its bit for today's injured servicemen and women in need.

To celebrate the launch, veteran and Help for Heroes ambassador Jon Le Galloudec was on hand to welcome the first consignment of beer arriving at Asda in Bournemouth, not far from Help for Heroes HQ, alongside members of the charity's fundraising team.

He commented: 'Tennent's is making a huge contribution to Help for Heroes with its new promotion. For people like me, Help for Heroes has helped us find our own unique challenge and provided support so we can try to achieve it. It's thanks to the support of companies like Tennent's and the Great British public that we've been able to overcome our disability.'

Paul Bartlett, C&C Group Corporate Affairs Director, added: 'We are enormously proud to be launching this new pack in partnership with Help for Heroes and to be supporting such a worthwhile charity in the UK. Tennent's is a brewery with a great heritage of making and sending beer overseas, and that includes during the first and second world wars. It's fitting that we do something to support today's wounded heroes. Having spent some time with the Help for Heroes team and the wounded they support, it's clear to me that every penny raised really does make a difference in providing the lifelong support that they and their families need. Tennent's Original Export is also a great beer that we know UK drinkers will enjoy so we hope they'll pick up a pack and join us on our half-a-million-pound mission.'

Help for Heroes-endorsed Tennent's Original Export is available at UK Asda stores priced at £8 per 12x300ml pack. At least 50p from the sale price of each pack will be contributed to Help for Heroes Trading Limited which Gift Aids all of its taxable profits to Help for Heroes. Registered Charity Number 1120920.

http://www.tennents.com 

http://www.facebook.com/TennentsLager 

Twitter: @tennentsH4H

http://www.helpforheroes.com 

Notes to editors

About Help for Heroes

Help for Heroes offers comprehensive support to those who have suffered life-changing injuries and illnesses whilst serving our country. This is provided through grants to individuals, other Service charities, capital build projects and our four Recovery Centres across the UK which will offer support for life. The money raised by the hugely generous public has been used to support our wounded, but there is still so much more to do. Soldiers, sailors and airmen who are injured today will still need our support tomorrow and in the days that follow, for the rest of their lives. They are still battling and we won't let them battle alone. For more information on how the money raised is spent, visit http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/how-we-help/

About Jon Le Galloudec

In May 2007, Lance Corporal Jonathon "Frenchie" Le Galloudec arrived in Basra for a six-month tour of duty alongside his friend, Corporal Rodney Wilson. In the early morning of 7 June, Frenchie and Rodney's patrol was part of an arrest and detain operation in the Al Atiyah district. During the mission they came under attack and Frenchie was shot in the spine. 'Initially it just felt like I'd been hit in the back by a sledgehammer,' he recalls. 'It took me completely by surprise. During the rescue attempt, Rodney ran 50 feet or so, under heavy fire, to save me. He picked me up and started dragging me to safety. When we were about 20 feet from cover, I heard a massive thud and I fell to the ground. That's when I knew Rodney had been hit.' Tragically Rodney Wilson died instantly, making the ultimate sacrifice so that Le Galloudec might live. Frenchie was operated on at the field hospital at Basra Air Station. The bullet had struck his spine, ripping through his gut and a kidney. Later, he was flown to Birmingham's Selly Oak hospital. He was then transferred to Stoke Mandeville Hospital, where he stayed for nearly three months. Despite the doctors telling him he would never walk again, Frenchie stubbornly ignored them, and two months after he was shot he took his first wobbly steps. He remembers: 'The first time I walked I was in tears, my mum was in tears, even the nurses were in tears - I just didn't think it would ever happen for me. I was told that I would always be in a wheelchair so walking out of the hospital, three months later, and proving them wrong, was one of the best days of my life.' He then spent 18 months at DMRC Headley Court where he learnt how to walk again and adjusted to life as a wounded soldier: 'The beauty of Headley Court was that no matter how badly your day was going, you would see someone who had no legs or who was badly burnt and you'd realise that everyone is struggling. Ultimately, we'd give each other hope.' It would be all too easy to sink into a dark depression and lose control of your life. However, Frenchie pushes himself to be the best he can be, feeling he owes that much to Rodney: 'The only way for me to honour Rodney's memory is to live my life to the full.' In October 2009, Frenchie was part of a group of five wounded soldiers who took on the challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Help for Heroes. After an arduous seven days, Frenchie and his fellow climbers reached the summit. 'The conditions were freezing, with temperatures around 17 degrees below,' he describes. 'It was such an emotional moment for me, as I realised that in so many ways I'd been able to overcome my disability. I thought learning to walk again was hard, but getting to the summit of Kilimanjaro was so much harder! It was painful, tough and at times I wanted to quit, but ultimately the challenge gave me a new lease of life and a thirst to do more to help other soldiers in my position.' Frenchie didn't stop there; in 2011 he climbed Everest with a group of Help for Heroes fundraisers, and he has competed in the 2013 Warrior Games in the US with 35 fellow wounded athletes as part of the Help for Heroes team. In addition to these incredible accomplishments, Frenchie is starting a new career as a motivational speaker.

About Tennent Caledonian

• Beer has been brewed at Wellpark for over 450 years, since 1556.
• The Tennent's business has been brewing since 1740 at the historic Wellpark Brewery in the east end of Glasgow - built by H&R Tennent and today the oldest running commercial concern in Glasgow
• Introduced in 1885, Tennent's Lager is known as an industry pioneer, recognised as being the first commercial lager to be produced to scale in Scotland (and one of the first in the UK) and at the forefront of introducing canned and draught lager to the UK
• The brand is renowned for its iconic 'Red T' logo and for its innovative marketing campaigns,
• In November 2010 the business opened its Tennent's Training Academy on-site at Wellpark. This state-of-the-art facility provides high quality industry training that is accessible for the entire hospitality industry
• Since 2010, as part of an ongoing programme to help build a robust Scottish on trade, Tennent Caledonian has been offering investment finance to its free on trade partners to support cash flow, re-financing and growth plans
• In October 2011, Tennent Caledonian launched a new ale brand for Scotland - Caledonia Best - made with 100 per cent Scottish barley
• Seed Fund
• In March 2012 Scotland's First Minister the Right Honourable Alex Salmond MSP opened a new £4 million bottling line at Wellpark Brewery
• In April 2012 Tennent Caledonian launched a premium export lager for the Scottish market: Tennent's Original Export - brewed in Glasgow using the finest natural ingredients
• In July 2012 Tennent Caledonian was awarded a series of gold, silver and bronze medals at two of the toughest global beer quality challenges: the Monde Selection in Belgium and the International Beer Challenge. Three of the business's new brands fared well in the competitions, with five medals awarded for Tennent's Original Export (UK market), and Tennent's Scotch Ale / Tennent's Extra (Italian market)
• In November 2012, the business raised £16,000 for Capability Scotland following its pledge to donate 5p of every pint sold on the day of Glasgow's Olympic homecoming parade.
• In March 2013 Tennent Caledonian announced a commitment to using only Scottish barley in the production of its core portfolio of beer brands from 2013 onwards

SOURCE Tennent Caledonian