My friend is due to go back to Helmand in the New Year, he was there a couple of years ago, but this year he's at Buckingham Palace waltzing up and down in a bearskin...
I got this letter from him and I'm going to spare a few quid, John Fenna, Dr Jones and I met him at a meet in the rain earlier this year and a few stories came out about just what a job these blokes too - scarier than the TV lets on.
So - this is the letter I got
Sponsorship for The Colonels Fund
Hello
I am writing to ask for your support in sponsoring Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards in our bid to cycle from Lands End to John oGroats to raise money for The Colonels Fund Grenadier Guards. 16 of my soldiers (including one who has lost a leg in Afghanistan) and I will cycle from Land's End to John o'Groats starting on 25 June. We expect the 900 mile ride to take us around 10 days. Every man on the ride deploys to Helmand Province, Afghanistan early next year for what seems likely to be yet another bruising tour. For most of my soldiers this will be their first combat experience.
Robust and challenging Adventurous Training such as this should be a part of any soldier's pre-deployment training as it develops all the qualities that an infantryman needs; stamina, courage, endurance, teamwork, drive and leadership. Unfortunately due to the current economic climate activities such as this are coming under considerable scrutiny and we are not only having to do this in our own time, but will have to pay the MOD several thousand pounds for using 2 vehicles, a 4 man support team and for the rations we will eat on the way! As such we desperately need your support to raise the maximum amount possible, so that we can give a large amount to our Regimental Charity, The Colonel's Fund.
My regiment has seen some of the fiercest fighting that has taken place in Helmand Province over the last 4 years. Over 2 tours we have lost 10 killed, had over a dozen amputees and had nearly 100 wounded out of a Battlegroup of only 500. There will be many more nursing serious psychological trauma which may not manifest itself for years to come. The Colonel's Fund has been set up to provide quick assistance to the families of the bereaved and to the wounded in the form of car conversions, non-slip driveways, holidays, prosthetic limbs, train tickets to attend memorial services and many, many more things.
Whilst there is now excellent assistance from the Government for those wounded and the families of those killed in the line of duty, our Regimental Charity enables us to go one step beyond and to provide detailed help to those who need it quickly and efficiently. We rely totally on the generosity of people like you to raise money, every penny of which will be spent on the families of those members of the Regiment killed and the wounded.
To sponsor our epic 900 mile ride please visit our fund raising page at www.bmycharity.com/ironguardsman alternatively you can send me a cheque made payable to "The Colonel's Fund, Grenadier Guards". For more information about the Colonel's Fund please visit the website at www.thecolonelsfund.com
PLEASE take a moment and donate something and please forward this email on to your friends.
Thank you.
Rupert King-Evans
I hope a few of you feel this is the sort of thing you'd like to support too.
I got this letter from him and I'm going to spare a few quid, John Fenna, Dr Jones and I met him at a meet in the rain earlier this year and a few stories came out about just what a job these blokes too - scarier than the TV lets on.
So - this is the letter I got
Sponsorship for The Colonels Fund
Hello
I am writing to ask for your support in sponsoring Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards in our bid to cycle from Lands End to John oGroats to raise money for The Colonels Fund Grenadier Guards. 16 of my soldiers (including one who has lost a leg in Afghanistan) and I will cycle from Land's End to John o'Groats starting on 25 June. We expect the 900 mile ride to take us around 10 days. Every man on the ride deploys to Helmand Province, Afghanistan early next year for what seems likely to be yet another bruising tour. For most of my soldiers this will be their first combat experience.
Robust and challenging Adventurous Training such as this should be a part of any soldier's pre-deployment training as it develops all the qualities that an infantryman needs; stamina, courage, endurance, teamwork, drive and leadership. Unfortunately due to the current economic climate activities such as this are coming under considerable scrutiny and we are not only having to do this in our own time, but will have to pay the MOD several thousand pounds for using 2 vehicles, a 4 man support team and for the rations we will eat on the way! As such we desperately need your support to raise the maximum amount possible, so that we can give a large amount to our Regimental Charity, The Colonel's Fund.
My regiment has seen some of the fiercest fighting that has taken place in Helmand Province over the last 4 years. Over 2 tours we have lost 10 killed, had over a dozen amputees and had nearly 100 wounded out of a Battlegroup of only 500. There will be many more nursing serious psychological trauma which may not manifest itself for years to come. The Colonel's Fund has been set up to provide quick assistance to the families of the bereaved and to the wounded in the form of car conversions, non-slip driveways, holidays, prosthetic limbs, train tickets to attend memorial services and many, many more things.
Whilst there is now excellent assistance from the Government for those wounded and the families of those killed in the line of duty, our Regimental Charity enables us to go one step beyond and to provide detailed help to those who need it quickly and efficiently. We rely totally on the generosity of people like you to raise money, every penny of which will be spent on the families of those members of the Regiment killed and the wounded.
To sponsor our epic 900 mile ride please visit our fund raising page at www.bmycharity.com/ironguardsman alternatively you can send me a cheque made payable to "The Colonel's Fund, Grenadier Guards". For more information about the Colonel's Fund please visit the website at www.thecolonelsfund.com
PLEASE take a moment and donate something and please forward this email on to your friends.
Thank you.
Rupert King-Evans
I hope a few of you feel this is the sort of thing you'd like to support too.
