Our events

Past Events

King Edward VII’s Hospital Friends Reception

King Edward VII’s Hospital hosted its annual Friends’ Reception last night at the Royal Society of Medicine, bringing together donors, patients, veterans, and supporters for an evening of appreciation. The event celebrated the vital contributions that help the hospital invest in advanced medical care and deliver transformative charitable programmes, including support for Armed Forces veterans.

A standout moment was a powerful speech by Army veteran Andy Geelan, a graduate of the Pain Management Programme, who shared how the initiative changed his life and inspired his remarkable fundraising feat—running 7 marathons in 7 days.

Thank you to all who joined and continue to support the hospital’s mission.

The Lord Mayors Big Curry Lunch 2025

In April, we were once again proud to participate in the Big Curry Lunch, an annual fixture in London’s charitable calendar, raising funds for organisations that support our Armed Forces community. Our CEO attended the event alongside Trustee Professor Roger Kirby, and members of our fundraising and marketing team, representing the hospital and our ongoing commitment to veterans’ health and wellbeing. Once again, we were honoured to be selected as a beneficiary of this important initiative, receiving a generous £100,000 in funding. This will directly support our work with veterans, particularly the Pain Management Programme (PMP), which continues to change lives for the better.

Christmas Carol Concert 2024

Celebrating the magic of Christmas at our beloved Annual Christmas Carol Concert held in the beautiful surroundings of St Marylebone Parish Church. This festive evening was the perfect way to embrace the holiday spirit with family and friends. We enjoyed timeless carols, anthems, and seasonal songs, along with the warmth of mulled wine and mince pies.

Honouring Sir Jameson Boyd Adams

We had great pleasure in hosting a reception at the Royal Society of Medicine in memory of Commander Sir Jameson Boyd Adams KCVO, CBE, DSO, RD.

Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence KCVO, CB, CSM, ADC joined us for the private unveiling of the plaque at King Edward VII’s Hospital. The Reception at the RSM honoured Sir Jameson’s amazing philanthropic contribution to the Hospital and marked the launch of a specifically funded ‘Sir Jameson Adams Pain Management Programme’, building on the success of the Pain Management Programme since its inception in 2017 to support even more veterans in 2024, the year of the Hospital’s 125th anniversary.

You can read more about Sir Jameson Adams and his history at the hospital in this news article.

The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch 2024

On Thursday, 18th April 2024, we were honoured by the presence of HRH The Princess Royal at the Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch at London’s Guildhall, held to support Armed Forces veterans. She met with veterans and beneficiaries from all three services, including those supported through programmes funded by the Lunch each year. Lucy Holt, Pain Management Programme attendee, was in attendance at this year’s event.

The Army Benevolent Fund, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity and the RAF Benevolent Fund, expressed immense gratitude to The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Professor Michael Mainelli, for hosting the event.

With this year’s record guest attendance of 1,650, it is anticipated a significant addition to the £3.3 million already raised by the Lunch since 2008 to aid UK Armed Forces veterans.

Christmas Carol Concert – 5th December 2023

It was wonderful that so many of you were able to join us on 5th December as we celebrated the start of Christmas with our Carol Concert at St Marylebone Parish Church. With readings from Sir Derek Jacobi, Lesley Nicol and Victoria Smurfit, and an inspiring personal testimony from Jamie Hull, it really was the perfect way to start the festive period.

All proceeds go towards funding the Centre for Veterans’ Health ground-breaking Pain Management Programme and 100% Military Grants.

The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch 2023

The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch is one of the City of London’s biggest fundraising events supporting the veterans of His Majesty’s Armed Forces.

The focus of the event is helping veterans into employment. The renewed commitment as a result of this year’s Lunch is to fund veterans through the King Edward VII Hospital’s Centre for Veterans’ Health, the Pain Management Programme and Lifeworks programmes.

In addition to this, support has been offered to other employment-related initiatives through the three single service charities.

King Edward VII’s Hospital Carol Concert – 13th December 2022

For the first time since the pandemic, we were delighted to host our annual Christmas Carol Concert for an evening of carols, readings and music with Sir Derek Jacobi, Victoria Smurfit and other special guests. The guests heard from Caroline Beazley who was supported from the Pain Management Programme.

This year all proceeds from the evening went towards our ground-breaking Pain Management Programme and 100% Military Grants.

The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch 2022

Our partners at The Lord Mayor’s Big Curry Lunch came back for 2022.

The 2022 Lunch on Thursday 7th April 2022 was an extra-special occasion having been given permission to call the 2022 Lunch ‘The Lord Mayor’s Platinum Jubilee Big Curry’ in honour of The Queen’s extraordinary service to this country and to the Commonwealth over seventy years

The attendees raised money for our Pain Management Programme and to help change the lives of veterans whilst enjoying the company of the finest names in food, drink and entertainment.

Celebrating Christmas at St Marylebone Parish Church – 9th December 2019

Our Christmas evening marks the start of the festive season for many of our supporters, staff and their family members. Raising funds for our ‘Sponsor a Veteran’ appeal, Sir Derek Jacobi delighted guests with his rendition of A Politically Correct Christmas, whilst Jermain Jackman amazed all with his incredible vocal talents.

All proceeds from the event went towards the Sponsor a Veteran Appeal.

Annual Fundraising Gala Dinner – 1st October 2019

Last year we welcomed 150 guests to Fishmongers’ Hall in the City of London for our Gala Dinner to raise funds for our Sponsor a Veteran appeal.

During the evening Professor Sir Simon Wessely spoke eloquently about military healthcare and psychological medicine. Caroline Beazley (one of our veterans) gave a moving account about her experience in the Armed Forces and subsequent treatment through our Pain Management Programme.

Thanks to the generous donations to the appeal, and fundraising on the night, we raised over £125,000!

An Evening with Henry Blofeld – Lord’s Cricket Ground, 10th June 2019

130 guests braved the typical British weather to join us for our ‘Blow out with Blowers’ on 10th June 2019.

Henry regaled our guests (in his own inimitable style) with uproarious anecdotes, skillfully cajoled by our MC for the evening, Roger Dakin.

To raise funds during the night guests were treated to array of lots that they could bid for in our silent and live auctions. But the main attraction – apart from Henry (!) – was the raffle in which one lucky guest won 10 VIP tickets and hospitality for Day 2 of the Ashes, worth over £10,000!

Thanks to the incredible generosity of our guests we raised over £20,000 on the night in support of King Edward VII’s Hospital and its charitable work delivered through the Centre for Veterans’ Health.

Thank you!

Berry Bros. & Rudd Wine Tasting 2019

We were honoured to be joined by over 50 guests at our exclusive Berry Bros. & Rudd wine tasting event on 12^th March 2019.

Jane MacQuitty delighted guests, as ever, with her expert knowledge: pitting New World against Old World wines.

Unsurprisingly, our raffle prizes were wine related, and many congratulations to our winners:
Richard Fairburn who walked away with a bottle of each of the wines tasted throughout the evening. Peter Reilly was the welcome recipient of three bottles of Berry Bros. & Rudd Champagne, and our very own Fundraising Manager, Alexandra Stainov, was the worthy winner of  the much coveted Berry Bros. & Rudd award winning book, ‘Exploring and Tasting Wine: A Wine Course with Digressions’.

As the evening due to a close, all guests departed with a goody bag containing a Berry Bros. & Rudd Champagne stopper and corkscrew.

Thanks to the generosity of all who attended we raised over £6,000.