A MILITARY family from Tidworth has been given a helping hand onto the property ladder after winning a competition.

Martin Williams, a sergeant in the infantry, and his wife Nichola, an ex-sergeant in IT and communication, will put the £2,000 cash prize from Freedom Finance’s This is Your Year towards a deposit for their first ever home, which they will share with their four-year-old son George.

The family currently live in Service Families Accommodation (SFA) in Wiltshire, as this is where Martin, 35, has been posted since 2015.

With George due to start school in September, it has been a race against time for the family to save for a large enough deposit for a new home before Martin is re-posted to a new location.

Although Nichola, 32, left the armed forces in 2016 to focus her time on looking after her son, living in Service Families Accommodation means the whole family is required to move whenever her husband is relocated.

Martin and Nichola have been saving for a suitable deposit for the past three years, but now thanks to Freedom Finance are in a position to finally start searching for their first ever family home.

Nichola said: “We have been saving everything we can for the past few years now, but it’s been a long effort to get anywhere near enough for deposit on a home in this area.

“With Martin being a sergeant there is every chance he will be posted to another location and with George set to start school this year, we want to do everything we can to minimise disruption and that means owning our own home.

“The prize from Freedom Finance has come at the perfect time and we are now a step closer to realising the dream of owning our own home. It also means George will be able to decorate his own room and have a place to put all his super hero posters – something he is very excited about!”

Lance Beare, managing director at Freedom Mortgages, said: “We are delighted to help Nichola and her family to achieve their New Year’s resolution, as it can often take families months or even years to save up enough money to put down on the home they want.

“We launched This is Your Year as part of our campaign to help people realise their dreams with a one-off cash prize.

“It’s great to see that our penultimate prize has been awarded to such a well deserving family.”