Reflecting on success: Celebrating the winners of the Hampshire Changemakers Awards 2026 – Wellbeing Champion Award

Our series of interviews with the Hampshire Changemakers Awards 2026 winners continues with a look at a unique approach to mental health and recovery. The Wellbeing Champion award was presented to Models for Heroes, an organization that proves meaningful change can be built - quite literally - piece by piece.  

With the focused, tactile hobby of model-making, the team at Models for Heroes supports veterans and emergency service personnel in rediscovering confidence, fine motor skills, and social connection. We spoke with Keith Hawkins from Models for Heroes about his reaction to the Changemakers winner announcement, the therapeutic power of a constructive hobby, and how something as simple as a model kit can become a vital tool for mental health. 

Wellbeing Champion, Keith Hawkins from Models for Heroes shared his reaction  

After I had got over the surprise of winning the award, I have sat and let things sink in. I can say that I am pleased that your judges recognised the importance of our work and what we do and I can add that someone had to appreciate my work enough to put me up for the award and supply the details of my work to the judges. I am a volunteer and work with other volunteers at Models for heroes and I am a small part of the team. I am pleased to receive this award as it recognises the importance of the work we do. When I joined Models For Heroes, Malcom, the Chairman and Founder had given a talk on what he was doing at our model club, I thought this was a worthwhile project and offered to help I have found that I have enjoyed helping and others have benefited from my work. 

What is Models for Heroes? 

Models For Heroes works with Serving and ex-Armed services and emergency services Personnel. We use Crafts (Model Making) as an intervention activity to promote improved mental health, aid recovery from illness and injury as well as improve happiness and social inclusion. The physical dexterity required to build the model kits challenges and promotes development of fine motor skill.  We have also put into our remit that we will actively encourage others to take up the hobby and promote the benefits of having a constructive hobby on one’s motor skills, concentration and general wellbeing. As a group we send out to our beneficiaries Model kits, tools, paint & glue and engage with them online and at live sessions where we sit chat and make models. We give our volunteers the opportunity to take part in the mental health first aid course which supports our volunteers. We are a community interest company and raise our operational funds from donation and grants as well as donated models and tools from the public and other organisations.  

My work and its impact on community  

I am involved as a Volunteer/Director I run a modelmaking session for beneficiaries at the Museum of Army flying at Middle Wallop.  I also go out to events and promote our work and raise funds to enable us to continue our work. Part of this fundraising activity is done with our Donate and create which we have a have found works well. The Museum of Army Flying Have been most helpful here. The Donate and create is a no fee event free to anyone to have a go we only ask for a donation to cover our expenses. We set up with models, tools, paints, and glue anyone can have a go and take their resulting model home afterwards we encourage adults and children to have a go and normally have some easy build models and figures that they can have a go at painting. The lack of charge enables anyone to have a go regardless of financial position and we find that others are generous with their donations that makes everything work. 

It is good to see our beneficiaries enjoy their time with us and to see their improved mood and confidence we also see them some become volunteers and they continue to work and grow and enjoy the hobby. We also see many people return to our donate and creates and take up the hobby building their skills and having a hobby that can help them maintain better mental health as well as develop some manual skills as well as observational and research skills. 

Find out more

Models for heroes can be found at our website, follow this link to find our more   

e-mail info@modelsforheroes.org.uk to get in touch.

Find us on Facebook and YouTube by searching: Models For Heroes, Building Lives Peace By Piece (Filmed by Richard Clark).

We also hold regular modelling sessions all over the UK which are free to all our beneficiaries and attend model shows around the UK.  

Our website holds details of events that we are attending, and beneficiaries will be given details on our Local modelmaking sessions. We also hold Donate and Create events at the Museum of Army Flying in Middle Wallop during school holidays these dates are on their website www.armyflying.com