Portsmouth Business Leaders Forum returns at Lakeside North Harbour

The Autumn 2024 edition of our Portsmouth Business Leaders Forum took place last Wednesday 6th November.  We had a packed agenda. New Shaping Partners; Portsmouth Water and Millstream Productions, who have actually been with us since before the Spring PBLF, finally got to introduce themselves on stage. They’ve both been very active in the partnership […]

Relaunching our Armed Forces Community programme

Yesterday morning saw the official relaunch of our Armed Forces Community programme at the autumn Portsmouth Business Leaders Forum, held at 2000 Lakeside. The vision of the programme is to create a community that not only values the service of veterans in the city, but also actively supports their transition to civilian life and their […]

Griffon Hoverwork pledges its commitment to the Armed Forces Community

Picture shows (left to right) Adrian Went, Managing Director, Griffon Hoverwork and Commodore John Voyce

Griffon Hoverwork is proud to announce that it has signed the Armed Forces Covenant, a national pledge to support the Armed Forces community. Adrian Went, Managing Director, Griffon Hoverwork explains: “I was honoured by Commodore John Voyce’s visit to join me in signing the Armed Forces Covenant which allows us to formalise our recognition and […]

Habitat Harbour

As many of you are already aware we have re-launched our Armed Forces Covenant Programme as the Armed Forces Community Programme. The new AFC will maintain its focus on promoting the covenant and helping businesses sign up to it, but will now be expanding its remit into new aspects of armed forces and veteran life […]

Kirsty hikes Pen Y Fan with the Royal Naval Association

On 29th July, Shaping Portsmouth’s Education & Community Lead and Female Royal Navy Veteran Kirsty Hill attended the Royal Naval Association female-only weekend in Wales, and what a weekend she had climbing Pen Y Fan and jumping into waterfalls with some incredibly inspirational women. The Royal Naval Association is the biggest collective group of Royal […]

We’re relaunching and expanding our Armed Forces Community Programme

The Shaping Portsmouth team are pleased to announce the expansion of our Armed Forces Covenant programme, which is being renamed the Armed Forces Community programme. Encouraging Portsmouth businesses to sign up to the Armed Forces Covenant and the Employer Recognition Scheme will still be a core part of the programme but we wanted to do […]

Shaping Portsmouth achieves Silver in the Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme

We are beyond proud and delighted to announce that Shaping Portsmouth, through our Armed Forces Covenant programme, has been awarded the Ministry of Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award. The scheme recognises employer organisations that pledge, demonstrate or advocate support to defence and the armed forces community, and align their values with the Armed Forces Covenant. […]

An introduction to the Armed Forces Community programme

Written by Kate MizonArmed Forces Covenant Co-Lead Dear Shaping Portsmouth Community,  I hope this letter finds you well.  I’m Kate, one of the two leads at the Armed Forces Programme. My co-lead Andy Moss and I wanted to get in touch to introduce ourselves, and to explain how we hope to support businesses and the […]

Recognising the Female Veteran Identity

Written by Kirsty HillEducation & Community Lead Hi. I’m Kirsty, Shaping Portsmouth’s Education & Community Lead and a Royal Navy Veteran. The term Veteran, or soldier, typically evokes a male image, even female Veterans themselves don’t always identify with the term. Women have been present and serving in wars since the beginning, yet historically women […]

How to positively employ veterans transitioning from the Military

Written by Kate MizonArmed Forces Covenant Co-Lead As a veteran of 22 years, post-service by 18 months, I have fallen into the ‘job hopping’ category. If you’re not aware of what that is, then I’ll explain. According to research, upon leaving the Armed Forces, almost 42% of veterans will take up between 3 – 5 […]