I begin by thanking our Grand President, Field Marshal The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux GCB CBE DSO DL, for his opening message and for both his and Lady Richards' ongoing, personal and genuine commitment to the League. I also take this opportunity, on behalf of us all, to congratulate our Grand President on his recent appointment by our Patron, the King, to Field Marshal: deserved recognition for his remarkable service to the Nation.

This report covers the sixth year of the Commonwealth Veterans Programme and our first year of the 3-year extension culminating in our sixth A grade. For a complex and challenging UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Aid programme this is an exceptional achievement. An achievement which again would simply not be possible without the remarkable energy and dedication of you, the Member Organisations across the Commonwealth, and our small but perfectly formed London staff!

Since 2019, with UK Government and the Service Charities support, we have now succeeded in lifting out of absolute poverty over 7,500 veterans and their widows. This is the quantitative impact of all our ‘aid’ and it is higher than our forecast of 7,000 back in 2018. We are reaching more eligible veterans and their widows, and having a greater impact on their lives, than we could have expected. For these people already living in poverty our support makes a huge difference not only to their health and diet but their wellbeing. It is clear when listening to their voices - on the videos taken on our Monitoring & Evaluation visits - that they remain incredibly proud of their British military service and so grateful that they have not been forgotten. From my own trips to visit Member Organisations I know that it means so much to them that they are remembered. Together we have worked to reduce poverty and tackle hunger and malnutrition in a group of beneficiaries who were there for this Nation at our time of need.

We should be rightly proud of what we are doing today.

Looking ahead, our task to support our beneficiaries remains significant over the next decade, even as (sadly but inevitably) their numbers reduce. We estimate that some 1,800 beneficiaries will still require assistance in March 2027, at the end of the current 3-year FCDO extension. That isn’t their end so it must not be ours. Of the utmost importance now is we focus firmly on how we continue to support our beneficiaries beyond this point. We have, over the year, looked at different options for our future beyond 2027. Our favoured option, from our London Conference, to merge with a likeminded charity has not proved possible. A future working group has been established with the support of our Service Charity partners to develop feasible and affordable options to enable support for this unique Commonwealth cohort of pre-independence beneficiaries to continue, at least at the levels we provide today. The main effort, of us all, must be to secure a further extension beyond 2027 to the FCDO Commonwealth Veterans Programme. The impact on our beneficiaries’ health and wellbeing if we can’t, would be significant. Our Conference in Ottawa will be a great opportunity to seek input from all Member Organisations on how we go about that campaign. What I am sure of is this cannot be a ‘London-effort’ alone. Ottawa must, therefore, help us re-double our collective efforts to make sure we are ‘Together to their End’; my rallying cry for us all for the next decade of our work.

Finally, I would like to thank the Senior Management Team, Executive Committee of Trustees and the core League staff for their incredible commitment and wise counsel, steering the League through a crucial period in its history. I join the Grand President in looking forward to the

35th Conference in Ottawa in June/July 2025 when I shall have the opportunity to thank some of you in person for everything you have done over the past 5 years. I look forward to continuing our important work with you all going forward.