A PRESTIGIOUS football trophy will be winging its way to Kent to kick off a countywide appeal to help Commonwealth war veterans.

In a footballing first, Community Shield holders, Arsenal, are releasing the coveted trophy this month for a charity match between the RAF and a host of TV celebrities.

The match, at Lordswood Football Club, Chatham, on October 20 from 2pm, is being used to launch the Jubilee Appeal for Commonwealth Veterans in Kent.

Tickets, priced £2.50, are available from Lordswood Leisure Centre on 01634 682862 or Lordswood Sports and Social Club on 01634 669138. Tickets can also be purchased at the RAF Careers Office in Dock Road, Chatham, or on the day.

Among celebrities taking part are EastEnders Gary Breadle (who plays Dr Truman’s brother, Paul); Dean Gaffney (Robbie Jackson); Ralf Little (the Royale Family); John Pickard (2.4 Children); Gary Lucy (Hollyoaks and Footballers’ Wives); Mickey Ambrose (Footballers’ Wives) and pop group 3SL.

Medway’s young singing sensation, Declan Galbraith, will also be on hand to sing and stars have promised to sign autographs afterwards. Former Speaker of the House of Commons, Lord Wetherill, will perform the official launch.

The appeal is one of the six charities nominated by the Queen for the Golden Jubilee Year. Civic leaders and VIPs throughout Kent are supporting the appeal, along with RAF cadets and ex-Service groups.

The appeal is being run throughout 2002 by the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League and has the Duke of Edinburgh as its president. Stanley Blow, 82, from Langley, near Maidstone, is regional chairman of the appeal.

Launched in March, the appeal has already raised £3 million - some £22,000 of that in Kent. But it needs to raise £5 million to help Commonwealth veterans who served the Crown and who are now suffering hardship and distress.

Funds raised will be dispensed through a network of ex-Service organisations across the Commonwealth. The aim is to provide Commonwealth veterans with a meal a day and help fund medical treatment.

Currently there are 25,000 beneficiaries - although research undertaken by the British Commonwealth Ex-Services League (BCEL) in Commonwealth countries, indicates that this number is likely to be increased by five times to around 125,000, in the next few years. This is because of the increasing age and frailty of so many.

Some 5 million people from the Commonwealth volunteered to fight during the Second World War, alongside the six million British Forces.

They came from all over the Commonwealth - a million from Canada; 2.5 million from the Indian sub-continent; from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean, the Far East and from across Africa.

Balbir Judge, who is helping to coordinate the appeal in Kent said: “Our mission is to raise £250,000 in the county. We would particularly like young people to get involved. One of the reasons is that youngsters are sometimes not aware of what their grandparents or even great grandparents have done to give us the freedom to do what we want to do.”

Donations, made payable to the Jubilee Appeal for Commonwealth Veterans, can be sent to the Jubilee Appeal for the Commonwealth Veterans, 20, Mortlake High Street SW14 8JN (please mark ‘Kent region’ on back of cheques). Certificates will be sent to everyone who makes a donation.

To find out more about the appeal, visit the website www.commonwealthveterans.org.uk