THE first stage of a rehabilitation centre that will transform the way injured Armed Forces personnel are treated in the North of England has celebrated its official opening.

A number of injured soldiers were joined by senior Army figures to cut the tape at Phoenix House, a personnel recovery and assessment centre, based at Cambrai Barracks, in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

The facility will be able to treat up to 35 wounded or sick service personnel at any one time, as well as offering rehabilitation and education services to help them integrate back into civilian life.

Phoenix House is the interim stage of a multi-million pound project that will see a purpose-built rehabilitation centre built at Gaza Barracks by 2013.

The project has been funded by Help for Heroes, which has pledged more than £12m to build the rehabilitation centre and for the refurbishment of Phoenix House.

Meanwhile, the Royal British Legion has committed £8.5m over the next decade to cover most of the expected £11m running costs.

The founder of Help for Heroes, Bryn Parry, visited Cambrai Barracks for yesterday’s opening of the interim centre.

He said: “It is fantastic to see the centre up and running.

For the first three years, Help for Heroes was all about fundraising, but now we are starting to deliver and it is great to see the money being put to good use.

“We started out with a plan to raise funds for a swimming pool at an Army rehabilitation centre, but we realised that the injured men and women needed so much more than that.

“This is about supporting people with life-changing injuries for the long-term.”

Corporal Andrew Garthwaite, 24, of the Queens Royal Lancers, from South Shields, lost an arm in a rocket propelled grenade attack in Afghanistan last September.

He has finished his physical rehabilitation and will start a series of education classes at Phoenix House next month.

He said: “It is great to have something like this because it’s local and it means that I don’t have to travel down south to study. It means I’ve got people around me who have been through the same thing I have and we can help each other out and understand each other.