A CHARITY football club established by former Armed Forces soldiers is hoping to help fellow veterans who are suffering after serving for their country.

The newly formed Military Minds FC does not yet have a kit but there are already 15 ex-military personnel signed up to play next season at home ground Maesdu Park, the stadium of Welsh tier two side Llandudno FC.

Co-founders David Owen, Kyle King and Ryan Davies wanted to give the chance to ex-military personnel to meet and share their common experiences as well as raise awareness and donations for Help For Heroes.

The veterans’ charity supports serving and retired Armed Forces personnel who are struggling with psychological and physical wounds following their period of service for their country. Every day, men and women have to leave their career in the military as a result, with their lives changed forever.

“It's our aim as a team and a local community to help in any way possible,” said David, player and club chairman.

“We all have a passion for football and helping people so we thought why not combine the two together and help spread awareness for a great cause.

“This takes up a lot of time; we are all hard-working individuals in the day and footballers by night, so we are all extremely busy on and off the pitch, but we will always find time to help the people that need it most.”

The trio were inspired to set up the team by their former club North Wales Dragons, where they had played for the last 12 years, which helped to raise donations for a list of charities.

They are now in the process of raising funds for their new team’s kit, which will be sponsored by Andrea Monteith of Your Local Dragon Ltd, and have set up a GoFundMe page for people to contribute what they can.

Kyle, whose dad served in the Armed Forces for more than two decades, said: “I am over the moon that we have started a charity team, we have worked really hard behind the scenes to get where we are today.

“The charity we have set up is really close to my heart as my dad Ryan King served 22 and a half years in the army, and unless you have done it no one will know what they suffer on a day-to-day basis.

“We just want to raise awareness that they are not alone. It’s OK to not be OK. Speak out. We are here to listen.

“I can’t wait to get started now.”

Once Military Minds has raised enough funds, a new kit will be signed off by Help for Heroes ahead of its upcoming fixtures.

The club will also be taking donations during its games at home ground Llandudno FC with all proceeds going to the Help For Heroes.

If you would like to support Military Minds further, contact David by emailing militarymindsfc@outlook.com

Find out more about Help For Heroes by visiting the Help for Heroes website.