A CENTRE to help armed forces and emergency service veterans has received Ministry of Defence funding for a special project to continue its work.

Almost £1 million has been granted to Sully based Woody's Lodge as well as Age Cymru and Age Alliance Wales.

They will work together to run Project 360° to improve the lives of veterans in Wales by giving them access to the support services they need.

Running for three years, the £940,000 Project 360° will make sure veterans are able to get help to tackle issues including isolation, loneliness and overall health and wellbeing.

Based at HMS Cambria in Sully, Woody's Lodge was opened in February as a tribute to Penarth marine Paul Woodland who died on a military training exercise in 2012.

It provides veterans with access to charities, advice, counselling and a place to socialise with other veterans.

David Trotman, who was involved in setting Woody's Lodge up, said: "This is a very exciting development and it will allow us to reach out to and help even more veterans by giving them access to potentially life-changing services.

"We’re going to be opening a Woody’s Lodge base in north Wales as part of Project 360°."

Project 360° received its award as part of a £22.7 million package of LIBOR funding to ten charities from the Aged Veterans Fund to improve, support and introduce new services to help older veterans.

Age Cymru is Wales' largest older people's charity while Age Alliance Cymru is a Wales-wide alliance of 21 third sector organisations dedicated to improving the lives of older people

Ian Thomas, chief executive of Age Cymru said: "We’re very grateful to the Aged Veterans Fund for giving us the funding to run Project 360°.

"With our combined expertise and knowledge, Age Cymru, Age Alliance Wales and Woody’s Lodge are in a unique position to make a real difference to the lives of older veterans in Wales."

Defence minister Mark Lancaster added: "Our veterans have given so much to their country and the Aged Veterans Fund is a way of thanking our older veterans and ensuring they are cared for in later life."