A CONTACT centre for past and present members of the Armed Forces and their families has opened its doors in Wirral.

Situated in the Cheshire Lines Building in Birkenhead, Wirral Veterans' Contact Centre was launched by the mayor, Cllr Alan Jennings, on Friday afternoon.

The unit offers help and support for service personnel and their families, avoiding calls to multiple organisations and departments at what can be a stressful time.

With its own website, logo and branding it is hoped the new service will provide a real lifeline to veterans and their families who have in the past faced problems getting support.

The idea came from a meeting between council leader Jeff Green and Simon Johnston, who retired from the Army in December 2004 after tours of Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and was later found to be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

Simon, who lives in Wallasey with wife Jane and their seven-year-old son, approached the council with the idea for a veterans' centre in November last year.

He told the Globe: "The opening of this centre is really important. It's so hard when you leave the forces to find anywhere to go for information that you may need or speak to people who have had the same experiences as you have.

"A place like this centre will provide a vital service for fellow veterans."

His wife Jane added: "When Simon came out of the army, we had so many problems as a family unit and there was nothing out there for us in terms of help.

"We trawled the internet for help and rang a number of organisations for help. The NHS weren't prepared to deal with combat stress disorder.

"It was very, very difficult finding someone who could deal with the issue.

"We faced every hurdle that could possibly be thrown to a couple coming out of the Army and dealing with this."

Cllr Jeff Green said: "The people of Wirral are very passionate in their support of the Armed Forces and what people have done for us to put themselves in harm's way to protect us.

"One of the things I found most surprising is the fact that there is a real need for us to work with families and veterans who were coming back from these conflicts.

"There are a lot of people out there who have suffered a lot and we need to find a way of helping them.

"I think this is a fantastic initiative; people will be able to call in and talk to people who’ve had the same experiences. They will then be signposted to other services.

"As a council we are able to do good things for good people, and I think we’ve absolutely achieved that here."

Wirral's Mayor, Cllr Alan Jennings, said: "This is a much-needed facility. The fact is that the boys and girls are coming home with horrific wounds that you can't see.

"Because you can't see them, they don’t get any sympathy and are fighting to get treatment and recognition.

"This centre will more than fill that bill. The guys providing the service have been through it and are going through it. It's got to work."