Aylesford: Veterans speak of gratitude for Royal British Legion Industries village help

Veterans met minister Johnny Mercer during a visit to the Royal British Legion village in Kent

Veterans have spoken of their gratitude for help from the Royal British Legion Industries village to help build new lives as two ministers paid a visit.

The village in Aylesford provides housing and other support to people with Armed Forces links.

Former British Army medic Vicky McLennan said: "I know where I can go if I am having a bad day."

Veterans Minister Johnny Mercer said "good models like this" were needed to get the right help.

Mr Mercer, who visited alongside Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, said: "It's extraordinary. It's a revolution in veterans' housing and we need to use good models like this to make sure we get it right."

Ms McLennan developed PTSD after 19 years in the medical corp, which included tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Former army medic Vicky McLennan felt she lost her purpose when she left the Army

She said: "I had a purpose when I was serving and then when I left, I just thought, what am I going to do now?"

She said the village "helped me in a lot of ways - housing, welfare support. I know where I can go if I am having a bad day".

Former officer Natasha Victor said the village helped her with "CVs, interviews and sources I could get business funding from".

Mr Tugendhat said: "We need to adapt the veterans journey, we need to adapt veterans support to include everybody."

Despite its success, the village, which opened when the charity turned 100, needs £5m more to finish its next phase of development.

Chief executive Lisa Farmer said: "If we were to build the remaining houses we need to build, they would be full the day after we finished them."

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].