More than 300 City high fliers, senior military figures and VIP guests dug deep to raise cash for veteran’s charities at the inaugural FTSE Boxing Night.

Donations are still being counted but the glittering event hosted at Whitehall’s historic Banqueting House has raised a significant amount for Veterans Aid, Help for Heroes and the Royal British Legion.

Auction prizes, including a flight in a Spitfire and a trip in a Challenger tank, resonated with the evening’s military theme and honoured guests included servicemen from Headley Court, recovering from injuries sustained in Afghanistan.

Before the evening’s serious boxing and bidding began Veterans Aid, as the headline beneficiary showed a short film about its work among the homeless ex-Service community, some of whom have fought back from misfortune through the sport.

Guests were further encouraged to be generous by VA supporter Lloyd Honeyghan, former WBC/WBA and IBA welterweight champion, who recently met one of the charity’s rising stars, a former homeless soldier now turned professional boxer.

Veterans Aid CEO, Dr Hugh Milroy, said, “This event was a celebration of the military family pulling together and looking after its own. It was organised by a former Guards officer, but made a reality by Artemis, who sponsored it, and the efforts of the Army boxing community, RLC chefs, veterans of all three Services, the Guards Museum and an amazing cast of unsung supporters.

“We are, in every sense of the word, an operational charity, committed to giving every veteran who comes to us a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’ - at point of need and without judgment. We can only afford to do this because of the generosity of those who make events like this happen.”

Charles Sincock, the man whose tireless efforts and vision made the FTSE a reality, said afterwards “I was so touched after meeting Hugh Milroy and the team at Veterans Aid, I felt compelled to action; along with my friends at the London District TA & Army Boxing Club we hope we’ve made things a little easier for this worthy cause”

Captain Robbie Wilmont from the club added “The London District TA & Army Boxing Club has been involved with various fund raising events since it formed back in 2007. As a result we have already donated tens of thousands of pounds to several military charities and we are delighted to have added Veterans Aid to our growing list.

“As serving soldiers ourselves we recognise the importance of the good work undertaken by this unique organisation and we hope it continues to grow and progress. We would also like to convey our best wishes to Dalton Miller in his future career as a professional boxer.

Artemis who also contributed one of the star auction prizes sponsored the FTSE night.

*Veterans Aid would like to thank supporters too numerous to mention. They include Charles Sincock for making it happen, John Dodd and Dick Turpin form Artemis, Robbie Wilmont, John Murphy and Lloyd Honeyghan from the boxing fraternity, Aron Heath and his team from the RLC, Andrew Wallis from the Guards Museum, Tim Callaway and John Romaine, Torquil Boyd and all at TTV.

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