BBV will be taking part in the Armed Forces Day in the Market Place in Salisbury on Sunday 30 June. We will be setting up a stall selling the notebooks made by students who have attended courses with BBV in order to raise funding for the charity. So, please, if you can, come and support us on the day and tell your friends and relations to come and buy a notebook! It will also be an opportunity to meet and chat to some of the BBV team. See you there!

Great news from Wiltshire Community Foundation who have agreed a generous award to Bound by Veterans for tuition, spread over the next three years. We are extremely grateful for this award which will enable us to continue to provide the excellent teaching on our courses.

Wiltshire Community Foundation is an independent charity. They exist to tackle disadvantage and strengthen local communities by inspiring philanthropy and supporting the voluntary sector.

Their mission is to maximise the impact of charitable activity by connecting people, information and resources. Here at Bound by Veterans we are most fortunate to have the support from Wiltshire Community Foundation.

The event took place at Blenheim Palace in the first weekend of June and comprised three events: a 750m swim in the lake, followed by a 19.8km bike ride around the estate and finishing with a 5.4km run. Mylyn successfully completed the course in under 3 hours but admitted she was not one of the fastest entrants! A splendid effort, Mylyn, congratulations. Anyone wishing to support Mylyn and make a donation for her efforts can do so through the link given here to

Just Giving: https://www.justgiving.com/page/mylyn-mccoll-1686686662653

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Rob Shepherd, Managing Director of Shepherds Bookbinders Ltd and co-founder of Bound by Veterans, who died on 13^th August after a long illness. He set up his bookbinding business in 1988 and not only became widely known and respected amongst the bookbinding community but was also passionate about training and spared no effort in trying novel training methods and developing opportunities for learning craft bookbinding.

In 2011 he co-founded Bound by Veterans, known initially as The Wiltshire Barn Project, and as its prime sponsor helped it reach charitable status a year later. He then helped place Bound by Veterans on a secure footing by persuading the City & Guilds Institute to reinstate bookbinding onto its list of heritage crafts and provided the means by which we are now able to award these internationally recognised City & Guilds qualifications to Veterans. In recent years he was a catalyst for the creation of the Queen’s Bindery Apprenticeship Scheme and pivotal in the development of national Apprenticeship standards for bookbinding, although perhaps behind it all he was inspired by a keen desire to find Veterans from his “special” charity who might graduate from classes at the Daffodil Barn to a full-blown commercial apprenticeship in the bookbinding trade.

He promoted the charity tirelessly through the Worshipful Company of Stationers, of which he was a Liveryman, and the many other links he had made in the bookbinding and commercial world. He gave us a solid financial start and mapped out a development programme that we follow today. It combines craft training with the therapeutic support for which this charity has become synonymous, and produces a regime that promotes confidence, self-esteem and mental well-being. We will miss his advice and influence but, above all, will miss a real gentleman who supported us with charm, dedication and determination.

If you wish to donate, please use the button below.

With the assistance of Help For Heroes (H4H) Scotland, Veterans Tribe Scotland (VTS) and Veterans Outreach Support (VOS) Portsmouth, BBV has put together on-line courses which are able to be undertaken by veterans in Scotland and an in-person session in Portsmouth. They are arranged by:

• Emma Weir, facilitator for H4H Scotland: [email protected]
• Gerry McGregor facilitator for VTS:  [email protected]
• Wendy Pearson facilitator for VOS (Portsmouth): [email protected]

Further details can be found in the Events page of the website or from the facilitators listed above.

With the constraints that Covid regulations have placed on us, BBV has developed online courses which are delivered using the Zoom conferencing app. Students are sent a box containing all the tools and materials required to complete the course in the comfort of their own home. The courses are split into two parts made up of two days and three days and this arrangement is proving popular with our students. The tools are returned to BBV at the end of the course.

In addition to the main courses, BBV has developed an online version of the Beginners’ Bookbinding Sessions which were previously held at Tedworth House, Tidworth. A trial run has taken place and it is planned to launch these in the New Year.

Face to face courses have returned to the Barn at Woodborough with suitable Covid precautions in place.

Anyone wanting further information about any of our courses should contact Wendy Lagden on [email protected]

We are delighted to learn that, once again, TESCO has awarded BBV a generous grant from this scheme. This time it is for £1,000 which is most welcome and for which we are very grateful.

Posted 12 Mar 21

It had been hoped to resume courses at Woodborough in March but this is no longer possible so we are developing on-line tutorials to enable students to undergo training for the C&G’s Level 1 Bookbinding Course  (Unit 118). This course is normally 5 days in length held from a Monday to Friday but is being split into two modules. Part 1 will now be two days and Part 2 three days.

For details of the new dates and timings for the courses in March 2021 visit the Events page at https://wiltshirebarn.co.uk/events-info/training-courses/

For further information or to bid for a place on any of the courses contact the Courses Administrator at [email protected]

Posted 10 Feb 21

This is an amendment to Update No 6.

Only courses in January and February 2021 have been cancelled.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to restart courses in March 2021 but we will have to abide by the government’s guidance in the light of the progress of the Covid-19 pandemic. If it proves not possible to resume courses face-to-face in March we will investigate other options.

Further updates will be given via the Newsletters sent to all subscribers and through this News section of the BBV website.

If you need further information, please contact the Course Administrator at: http://[email protected]