Campaign
Veterans’ Story Hour
Pilot complete · Film live
Monday 14 September 2026
The Vine Inn, Cumnor · 09:00–11:00
Four veterans spoke: Dr David Paintin, James Moffat, Steve Lunn and David Drew. Teachers, councillors and other veterans sat in. Questions ran for about forty minutes.
Sponsored by a Civic Future Action Grant. Film free to share: youtu.be/NwNSxN7Z-14
Next
Whitelands Academy, Bicester
Tuesday 10 November 2026 · assembly from about 08:30
Same speakers. Further Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in October and November are open for schools and libraries.
You will no doubt have heard of Drag Queen Story Hour, where colourful drag artists visit schools and libraries to tell stories to young and older children. I would like to harness some of that energy and design to bring Armed Forces veterans instead — men and women who have borne the weight of service — into classrooms, youth centres and libraries to recount lived stories of bravery, honour and quiet pride.
The only true failure is the abandonment of the struggle itself. To persist, to rise again, to refuse the counsel of despair: these are the lessons that endure, and they are best learned not from theory but from those who have practised them under fire or in the long, unglamorous grind of duty.
The narratives we propose are those of patriotism and civic pride — stories drawn from every background, every race, yet all of them British and all of them unashamed of that identity. In a country growing ever more multiracial, the shared language of belonging becomes more, not less, essential.
Yours sincerely,
Rory Hanrahan
Stories of service
Major Michael John O’Leary VC
Born in Inchegeela, County Cork, in 1890. On 1 February 1915, near the French village of Cuinchy, Lance-Corporal O’Leary of the Irish Guards single-handedly charged two German barricades. He killed five men at the first, then pressed on to the second sixty yards further on, killing three more and taking two prisoners.
When the news reached Ireland, his father Daniel was characteristically underwhelmed: “I am surprised he didn’t do more. I often laid out twenty men myself with a stick coming from Macroom Fair.”
Sergeant William James Gordon VC
The only Jamaican-born recipient of the Victoria Cross. On 13 March 1892 in the Gambia Campaign he threw himself between Major Madden and a volley of muskets, took a shot through the lungs, and almost certainly saved his commanding officer’s life.
Petty Officer Thomas William Gould VC
One of only three Jewish recipients of the Victoria Cross in the Second World War. On HM Submarine Thrasher he and Lieutenant Roberts removed two unexploded bombs from the gun casing in complete darkness. His Cross is held by AJEX.
Get involved
If you are a veteran willing to speak, a school, library or youth centre that would host a session, or simply want to support the work, get in touch. Supported by a Civic Future Action Grant.