They Were Homeless. Then They Restored a Fort.
Ten previously homeless British veterans spent two weeks this spring restoring a Victorian-era fort in Malta, logging 900 hours of hands-on conservation work — and along the way, found their own path back to purpose and confidence.
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Ten men once had nowhere to call home. This spring, they were handed hammers, brushes, and 900 hours of restoration work on a Victorian-era fort on a Mediterranean island — and every single one of them showed up.
Jimmy Flurrey spent twelve years in the Royal Navy before life outside the military got hard. After his service ended, he worked as a chef — but trouble with renting, depression, and alcohol slowly took over, and eventually he had nowhere to live. Last Christmas, he walked into a UK veterans' charity called ALABARÉ and asked for help. He wasn't alone. Across England and Wales, ten former Royal Navy, Army, and RAF service members — several of them, like Jimmy, from Gosport — had all landed in the same place: out of the forces, and out of options.
ALABARÉ had a different kind of recovery in mind. It's called Heritage That Heals — put veterans back into a team, give them physical work with a real purpose, and let the structure of service do what therapy alone sometimes can't reach. This spring, that meant flying all ten of them to Malta for a two-week mission, working alongside academic teams from Bangor University and Archaeology Warwickshire.
For two weeks, the group partnered with Heritage Malta and the Armed Forces of Malta to restore Fort Delimara, a Victorian-era coastal fortress, and a nearby military outpost in Dingli. They logged 900 hours of hands-on restoration — labor worth more than twelve thousand pounds — repairing stonework that had stood since the 1800s.
Nick Cogbill, who served across all three branches, told The News in Portsmouth he'd been largely housebound for six years before the trip. "It's been phenomenal," he said. "I actually felt part of something, I felt valued, and my confidence has gone through the roof. This, for me, was a trip of a lifetime." Jimmy felt the same shift. "A new passion has been ignited in me," he said. "Being around the military family again has been really nice."
The Maltese government took notice, too. The team was welcomed by the British Deputy High Commissioner and Malta's culture minister, Owen Bonnici, who said the project gave the historic fort the care it had long needed while creating what he called a space of real inclusion and social value for the community.
This wasn't a one-time trip. It's the second year running that ALABARÉ has sent veterans to Malta, and the charity has already been invited back for a third mission in 2027. That's the bigger picture here — recovery doesn't always look like a hospital room or a support circle. Sometimes it looks like a paintbrush, a century-old stone wall, and ten men who needed each other exactly as much as that fort needed them.
Sources: portsmouth.co.uk · heritagemalta.mt
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