MILFORD actress Dame Penelope Keith was special guest at an immaculate display of musicianship and drill by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas at Charterhouse School that raised £9,000 to help veterans and their families.

The Surrey Branch of the Army Benevolent Fund, the soldiers’ charity, held its summer reception on a perfect summer’s evening in the headmaster’s garden.

Members of the band played while a glittering array of more than 200 of Surrey’s civic dignitaries met members of the ABF and heard about the pressing need for funds to help ex-soldiers cope with injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Guests included the High Sheriff of Surrey Robert Napier, chairman of Surrey County Council Peter Martin and most of the county’s mayors.

As the Charterhouse clock struck 8pm the full band marched through the arch onto the quad and launched into an impressive repertoire of music followed by a display of Nepalese kukri dancing, before Sounding the Retreat.

The event was hosted by the Surrey ABF President, The Lord Lt of Surrey Michael More-Molyneux and Col Tony Ward OBE DL. The band was sponsored by Dunsfold Park chief executive Jim McAllister and the Rutland Group.

The ABF faces a huge increase in demand for its support in the wake of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army’s combat role in Afghanistan was the longest campaign in over 200 years and involved the death of 453 service personnel, each one leaving a bereaved family. Thousands more were wounded, many with life-changing injuries, and as people grow older, old wounds cause more problems. PTSD can take up to 15 years to manifest itself and the veterans’ mental health charity Combat Stress is supporting more than 5,000 soldiers.

The ABF is there to ensure that no veteran struggles alone with problems arising from their service for their country, and the level of need is greater now than at the end of the Second World War. Last year the ABF made grants of just under £8million, a 30 per cent rise on 2011.

Within Surrey, nearly £220,000 was awarded to seven charities such as Combat Stress, dealing directly with soldiers and their families, and a further £85,000 was given to 80 individuals.