"Here came to me when I was in a bit of a bad time, I'd just lost my wife after 60 years, and I didn't know what to do with myself really," 88 year old veteran Jim Simpson tells me.
"And I met Ken and Bunny [charity co-founders] at RAF Marham Heritage Centre, and they said come up and see us. And I did, and they haven't been able to get rid of me," he laughs.
As we chat, Jim, who served for ten years as an RAF Armourer, shows me around. He describes himself as a 'plasterer and painter' at the charity, volunteering his time to help transform the former Station Headquarters at RAF West Raynham.
After the base closed in 1994, the building was near-dereliction - it's now unrecognisable.
"It means a heck of a lot to me, I'm here today, I was here yesterday, and I'll be in again on Saturday," Jim continues, "It gives me something to do, it's a purpose in life, and it's helped me. There's no use sitting down, sort of vegetating, you've got to do something. And I've got friends here. You've got to have friends and to see people."
Jim says it's 'not your average veterans charity', "If this place were just tea and cakes, I wouldn't be here, it's the work I do. You come here to do the work, because you want to."
Before Jim goes to fit some skirting boards, he tells me, "When you were on a squadron in the air force, you got proud of that unit. And you had your own parties, and your friends there. This is like being on squadron again. It's the comradeship that does it."
The volunteers (some veterans, some civilians) are busy painting, working in the gardens (which were 12 foot deep in vegetation), recording podcasts, researching the station's archives...the list goes on.
And outside Phil Jones, who had a 30-year career in the RAF Regiment, is busy cleaning a Hawker Hunter. He stops to have a chat.
"I think it's just amazing what Ken and Bunny and just a few others have pulled together from a derelict building, they just opened the doors and kind of invited people to come in, people from all walks of life, civilians and military, have come in and just got stuck in.
"It's a lovely atmosphere to be in, come in and have a cup of coffee, come and have a chat about the old days. I served in 85, but I've been talking to people who served in 56 - and it's just a common language and it's just a nice atmosphere."
Phil Jones
Despite being shown photographs of the state of RAF West Raynham's SHQ's, and listening to descriptions of the water damage and rotten windows (to name just a few things) - it is hard to imagine what it was like just 3 years ago when work began.
It's been a privilege to spend a morning getting to know some of the many volunteers. There were just a handful at the beginning, now there are over 140. They have, after more than 70 thousand hours of work, given a new lease of life to this 1930's building.
What a vision Ken and Bunny had, managing to see beyond the dereliction - to bring a building back to life. And in the process help more than a thousand veterans.
With renovations having begun on an adjacent building - long may the work continue, and the number of veterans reached grow and grow.
For more information about the charity:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/5994602407304548/?locale=en_GB
