Touching pictures of Royal Navy children from Portsmouth to feature in national calendar for military charity

THREE children are to feature in a national charity’s calendar shining a light on military families over the past year.
Tom Cotterill
By Tom Cotterill
Published 11th Nov 2020, 07:00 BST

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Erin Wiggins, 12, pictured with a beaming smile welcoming her dad Chief Petty Officer Paul Wiggins back to Portsmouth in August, 2019. The picture now features in the next national Little Troopers calendarErin Wiggins, 12, pictured with a beaming smile welcoming her dad Chief Petty Officer Paul Wiggins back to Portsmouth in August, 2019. The picture now features in the next national Little Troopers calendar
Erin Wiggins, 12, pictured with a beaming smile welcoming her dad Chief Petty Officer Paul Wiggins back to Portsmouth in August, 2019. The picture now features in the next national Little Troopers calendar

Erin Wiggins, 12, and sisters Jessica and Ella Hulks, eight and five, have been named as the March and April entries in the Little Troopers ‘Through Our Eyes’ 2021 calendar.

The trio of youngsters pipped more than 100 other children to make this year’s heartfelt tribute, packed full of touching pictures of joyful reunions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a cute shot, Erin was pictured with a beaming smile welcoming her dad Chief Petty Officer Paul Wiggins back to Portsmouth in August, 2019.

Jessica and Ella Hulks, aged eight and five, wave off their dad from Portsmouth. This image features as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.Jessica and Ella Hulks, aged eight and five, wave off their dad from Portsmouth. This image features as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.
Jessica and Ella Hulks, aged eight and five, wave off their dad from Portsmouth. This image features as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.

Paul had been serving on frigate HMS Westminster in the Baltic and has spent much of 2020 away from home due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Meanwhile Erin’s brother Ethan has also been serving away from home with the Royal Engineers.

Erin’s mum Hannah, who previously served in the navy and now works at Queen Alexandra Hospital, said: ‘We are very proud of how Erin has coped this year. It hasn’t been easy having her dad and brother serving away from home during lockdown and we’ve spent a lot of time just the two of us.’

Read More
Four men fined for breaching lockdown rules to watch football
Sisters Jessica and Ella Hulks pictured celebrating after they were featured as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.Sisters Jessica and Ella Hulks pictured celebrating after they were featured as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.
Sisters Jessica and Ella Hulks pictured celebrating after they were featured as part of the 2021 Little Troopers calendar.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Meanwhile, Jessica and Ella Hulks are pictured on the beach waving goodbye to their dad Shane as he deployed with the navy on HMS Defender for seven months in August 2019.

Shane was away for Christmas and both of the girls’ birthdays before returning home just before lockdown in March. In the last three years he has spent 600 nights away from home.

Mum, Rachael, 31, said: ‘I am so proud of how well the girls coped with their dad being away. Seven months is a really long time not to see a parent especially when you are that young but they took it in their stride.’

She added the pair were thrilled when they discovered they were to feature in the latest calendar.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘They are so excited. They have been going round telling all their friends, I think they think they are famous,’ said Rachael.

The photos appear alongside other heart-warming snaps and stories of military children as seen through their eyes.

Louise Fetigan, founder of Little Troopers, said 2020 had been a ‘challenging year’ and that lots of military children have ‘carried extra weight on their shoulders’ due to cancelled postings and extended deployments.

SEE ALSO: Royal Navy vessel tracks Russian warship

‘Erin and Jessica and Ella’s photos and the other images in the calendar really capture that special bond between a serving parent and their children and we hope that by sharing these stories, other military children will see that there are lots of Little Troopers in the world who share similar experiences and are part of this very special community of amazing and resilient young people,’ she added.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The calendar is now on sale with all proceeds helping Little Troopers to continue providing support to military children.

For more information visit www.littletroopers.net

Looking for the latest Royal Navy updates from Portsmouth? Join our new Royal Navy news Facebook group to keep up to date.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

The News is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism.

You can subscribe here for unlimited access to Portsmouth news online - as well as our new Puzzles section.

Related topics:Royal NavyPortsmouth

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.