Fleetwood war veteran makes wooden rocking horses to help his PTSD

A war veteran from Fleetwood who was diagnosed with PTSD more than 20 years ago says making rocking horses has changed his life.

Kevin Gray was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and was medically discharged from the armed forces.

It was his childhood dream to join the army so when he was discharged it was very difficult for him.

He said: "I’d spent my whole life as a child wanting nothing more than to be in the armed forces, and to have that taken away from me it was really hard to take.

"I tried to just plod on with life feeling a failure,  ashamed that I wasn’t good enough to be a soldier anymore, and for many years that put me in a really dark place."

A friend encouraged Kevin to visit Help for heroes where he learned to forge rocking horses from wood.

Kevin said this changed his life. Now, Kevin makes beautiful rocking horses for people.

He said: "I started to realize that I can still create things - something tactile, something beautiful and I was proud of what I’d created.

"That pride that I’d been missing all those years, that I used to get when I wore my uniform."

The Veteran now raises awareness about his invisible disability by talking publicly about his journey, something that he would have never thought that he could do twenty years ago.