Patrons

Carl Leighton-Pope started his career in 1964 aged 18 working at the Marquee Club in Soho, London with the likes of Rod Stewart, The Who, Eric Clapton. Those days as a Mod riding a scooter and shopping in Carnaby Street signalled the start of a long career in the music business lasting over 55 years.

Warrant Officer Class 1 Hughes GC, who is currently serving with 29 EOD & Search Group as the Group Senior Ammunition Technician was awarded the George Cross in 2010 in recognition of his bravery whilst on tour in Afghanistan.

Samantha is wife of the former Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Lineker is a retired English International Football Striker, and is now a sports broadcaster for the BBC and Eredivisie live. He remains England's top World Cup scorer with 10 goals. He began his career at Leicester City and became known as a prolific goal scorer. He made his England debut in 1984 and over the following 8 years he scored a remarkable 48 goals- England's all time second highest goal scorer ever. 

Freddie Flintoff is a cricketer for England. Since his debut in 1998, Flintoff has become an integral player and has both captained and vice-captained the team. Flintoff, according to the ICC rankings, was consistently rated amongst the top international allrounders in both ODI and Test cricket. Flintoff holds the record for the most sixes scored for England, beating Ian Botham's record of 67. 

One of the country's leading entrepreneurs, Stephen started finance broker Loans.co.uk in 1997 and sold it to MBNA in 2005. During those 8 years, he grew annual turnover to £100m, with £25m annual profits. At the point of sale, Loans.co.uk employed over 400 people across 3 sites. Under his leadership, Loans.co.uk were awarded numerous accolades, including coming 5th in the prestigious "Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For" Awards.

Sir Anthony Bamford assumed the role of Chairman and MD of JCB diggers in 1975. He was named young businessman of the year in 1979 and top exporter of the year in 1995. He was Knighted in 1990 at the age of 44. Today JCB is the UK's premier manufacturer of construction equipment and exports its products to 140 territories around the world.

OBE (born 23 November 1954) is an English motorsport engineer and Formula One team principal. He has worked for a number of Formula One teams, serving as the technical director of the championship-winning Benetton < and Ferrari teams. He took a sabbatical from the sport in 2007 but returned to F1 for the 2008 season as Team Principal of Honda . He was the owner of the Brawn GP < team, which acquired the Honda team in early 2009, and won the Formula One Constructors and Drivers Championships in that year. Mercedes bought out the team in November 2009, where Brawn remains team principal. 

"These are remarkable young men and women of whose courage and strength, we should be very proud. I am delighted to support Tickets for Troops, which gives them something back and I hope shows that we really do value and respect what they do on our behalf."

The British Army Officer and Chief of the General Staff began his career at 19 in the Intelligence Corps in 1963. He was subsequently commander of Kfor in Kosovo as well as being an IFOR commander in Bosnia. Amongst other posts he was appointed Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps in 1997. He was appointed Chief of the General Staff during the Iraq war, and relinquished the post in 2006.

The British Motor Trade Entrepreneur and Philanthropist is the founder of a number of religious and educational charities including Christian Vision which was started in 1993. In 1974 he was Finance Director at Jensen Motors before setting up his own company, IM Group. His son has now taken over, but he remains Chairman.

Richard Johnson is arguably one of the greatest Jump Jockeys that Britain has seen, joining just a handful of greats to have ridden over 2,000 horses to victory. Runner-up to the exceptional AP McCoy in the Jump Jockey Championship for the last 15 years, Richard is one of only two jockeys riding today to have won all four of Cheltenham's major races.

Robert joined the Army in 1977, and commissioned into the Scots Guards. He served in West Belfast and qualified as a jungle warfare instructor in Brunei, later working in Africa.  Robert was awarded an MC in the Falklands and was hit by a 7.62 round to the head. Wheelchair bound for about two years he still carries a paralysed left arm, foot and ankle, left leg.  In the film 'Tumbledown', Robert's character was portrayed by Colin Firth. Robert worked for some years in West End and New York Theatre, Film and Television. He also has experience of working in the Private Military sector.

John Terry is an experienced England International Defender and Chelsea Club Captain.

David and Simon Reuben are well known British businessmen and philanthropists. They are joint chief executives of Reuben Brothers, a private company with over £6 billion under control. The company's main interests are real estate, private equity and venture capitalism and has been involved in a number of major business transactions.

Hastings is a former Scotland rugby union player. He is frequently considered one of the best, if not the best, rugby player to come out of Scotland. He has played for Watsonians, Cambridge University, Scotland and the British and Irish Lions and was one of the outstanding rugby union players of his generation, winning 61 caps for Scotland, 20 of which as captain.

A Scottish professional snooker player, at 21 Hendry was the youngest-ever snooker World Champion. He has won the honour on six subsequent occasions. He was also snooker's world number one for eight consecutive years. Hendry also holds the distinction of most world ranking titles (36) and leads the field with well over 700 competitive century breaks. 

The former England and Newcastle captain has given his backing to the charity, saying:

"I am delighted and privileged to be a Patron the charity Tickets For Troops, which is doing so much to help members of the Armed Forces in such a simple and effective way. Tickets For Troops really can make a big difference to our servicemen and women and their families."

"I am in awe of the work our troops do, putting their lives on the line every day to protect the rest of us. Tickets For Troops is a perfect way of saying thank-you and I fully support the idea."

Gerrard is captain of Liverpool football club and plays for the England. His honours include two FA Cup wins, two League Cup wins, a UEFA Cup win and a UEFA Champions League win in 2005. As of 13 May 2009, Gerrard is also the current holder of the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year award. In the the 2006 FIFA World Cup, he was England's top goalscorer with two goals.

Stone is an English Soul and R&B singer. She emerged to fame in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album "The Soul Sessions." Throughout her career she has sold over 10 million albums worldwide- more than any other British soul singer in the 2000's. She has won Two BRIT Awards and one Grammy. She also made her Film Acting Debut in 2006 in the film, Eragon.

"I am delighted to become a Patron of Tickets For Troops and as a former serving member of the Armed Forces I know how much a scheme like this means to the troops and their families.  I also know what a privilege it will be for athletes to compete in front of the brave men and women who have been serving our country. Tickets for Troops is a fantastic chance for sportsmen and women across the country to recognise the commitment of our troops."

A former professional football player with Blackburn Rovers and Crewe Alexandra, Whelan is an entreprenuer and the current owner of Wigan Athletic. He is the former owner of JJB Sports and owns the DW Stadium where Wigan Athletic and the Wigan Warriors RLFC play.

Pauline was born in Chester and lives on the outskirts of Hull where her husband John Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minister, was Labour MP for 40 years. Mother of three boys, Pauline trained as a hairdresser and it was her wages that supported them during John's eight years of university. As well as being a patron for Tickets for Troops, Pauline also campaigns on behalf of osteoporosis sufferers.

Colin Montgomerie is one of his generation's most recognisable and endearing sports stars and is a true statesman of golf. Over the last two decades Colin has emerged as the undisputed leading European golfer. Colin, known affectionately to millions around the world as "Monty", is one of Britain's most admired sportsmen and has held centre stage in numerous tournament victories and in eight titanic Ryder Cup Matches as a player and in October 2010 he captained the victorious 2010 European Ryder Cup Team at Celtic Manor.

Heather Stanning is a British rower and Royal Artillery officer. She is a Captain in the 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery, and was given leave from the army to pursue an Olympic career with the British team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Paired with Helen Glover, the duo won a gold medal, the first for their country of the 2012 Games and the first ever British Olympic gold medal in women's rowing.

Beharry was awarded the Victoria Cross in 2005, the highest decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth Armed Forces. He achieved this by twice saving members of his unit from ambushes at Al Amarah, Iraq in 2004. He sustained serious head injuries in the latter engagement. Beharry is the first recipient of the Cross in more than 20 years.