LegionLive

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. Gulf-War veteran Allen Parton,  a Legion beneficiary and Legion County Patron for Hampshire certainly thinks so.

Allen is one of the few ex-service people to have taken an assistance dog. His notorious canine friend Endal sadly passed away last year, but he has a new pup in his life, along with a brand new charity to manage - Hounds For Heroes.

Endal helped to rebuild Allen’s life when he returned from the Gulf-War confined to a wheelchair with terrible injuries and mental scarring. Allen decided to set up the charity after he realised how much interest people had in his story which has been retold in paperback and on TV. His goal is to provide specially trained assistance dogs to injured and disabled service people in the UK, so they too can benefit from the life-saving assistance that he did.

The charity is due to officially launch at Crufts which starts tomorrow, and as a good friend of the Legion we wish Allen and his cause the best of luck!

You may remember that back in November Arsenal Football Club commemorated Remembrance and Armistice Day with the players wearing a special one-off poppy shirt during a match.

After the game each player signed their shirt which was then put up for auction by the club to raise money for The Royal British Legion and Help For Heroes. Thanks to the amazing generosity of the Arsenal fans the auction was a great success, with the club raising £21,055!

To mark this fantastic achievement Legion representatives were invited to the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal’s Premier League match against Burnley on 6th March. They were also presented a  £10,527.50 cheque pitchside by Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis and player Kieran Gibbs.

20 members of The Royal Gurkha Rifles also took part of the presentation. As Arsenal’s guests, they were enjoying a night out before embarking on a six-month tour of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Chris Simpkins, Director General of The Royal British Legion said: “We are most grateful for the support of Arsenal Football Club and it’s loyal supporters. As an Armed Forces charity, we will ensure these funds help support Armed Forces past and present, and their families.“

Calling all active Legion supporters!

How do you fancy being able to put your strength and stamina to the test with a hike across the Pyrenees into Spain? If that sounds like something that’s right up your street, consider taking part in the Freedom Trail.

The Royal British Legion is offering 15 determined trekkers the ultimate challenge - to relive the escape route that 18,000 Service men and 38,000 civilians took during World War II when attempting to evade enemy capture.The four day trek covers 50 miles and reaches heights of 2,600 metres, so is sure to require some tough training beforehand! You can expect to be walking through snowfields, negotiating gigantic granite boulders, experiencing varying climates and reaching some pretty dizzying heights - and all while carrying your own equipment. But, and this is the highlight, you’ll be experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while raising important funds for an important charity!

It all takes place between the 6th and 13th July, and if you’d like to find out more, just send Claire O’Dowd, the Legion’s Events Assistant, an email on codowd@britishlegion.org.uk

Ever fancied emulating the amazing feats of our resident base jumpers Jump 4 Heroes?

The Dorset Royal British Legion Branch are seeking adventurous volunteers to make a fundraising parachute jump! Ok, so it’s not quite base jumping, but you’ve got to be pretty brave to jump out of a plane and skydive!

The jumps will take place on 26th June 2010 at the Sailsbury Airfield to celebrate Armed Forces Day. Volunteers will not only get to experience the thrill of a lifetime, they will also get to jump for free if they raise over £395 in sponsorship money for The Royal British Legion!

There are three types of jumps to choose from:

• Tandem Skydive: jump 10,000 ft attached to a professional instructor
• Accelerated Free Fall: experience the thrill of skydiving solo from up to 12,000 ft
• Static Line: jump solo from up to 3,000 ft

Training is provided for all jumps so no experience is neccessary. All proceeds will go to The Royal British Legion.

For more information visit The Dorset Branch’s Facebook page or click here to sign up straight away.

Thousands of well-wishers lined the streets of Cardiff yesterday for the homecoming parade of more than 250 men from 1st Battalion Welsh Guards.

The guards returned from Afghanistan in October having lost 7 comrades including their Commanding Officer Lt Col Rupert Thorneloe, who was the highest ranking Officer to die in Afghanistan and also a friend of Prince Charles.

During their six-month tour in Afghanistan the Guards took part in fighting against the Taliban in Helmand Province.

The cheers from the crowds showed that the Welsh Guards, and indeed all our brave Armed Forces, hold a special place in the public’s heart.

Continuing our theme of profiling the lucky winners of the Max Res Marathon runners competition, today we’re meeting Adam Hornby.

Adam served with the RAF for four years before being medically discharged. During his time in the RAF he served in Afghanistan and played a key role in Operation Telic 1, as well as taking tours in Kuwait.

Sadly, Adam’s brother, Corporal Simon Hornby, was tragically killed in Afghanistan while on duty just before Christmas last year. The picture above shows Adam with Simon on Simon’s wedding day.

Now Adam lives in Liverpool and is the proud father of an 18 month old daughter. He tells us that his main reason for running the London Marathon to honour the memory of Simon.

Good luck, Adam! His Just Giving page is right here.

Hi all,

As you may well remember, we very recently held a competition that offered the money-can’t-buy opportunity to take part in the Virgin London Marathon - on behalf of the Max Res Facebook group and The Royal British Legion.

We received so many fantastic entries from people eager to raise money for the Legion that we picked two winners, each with their own personal and inspiring reasons for wanting to run. And where better to profile them than here on LegionLive? First up is Steve Hooper.

Steve is currently serving in the RAF as a Mechanical Transport Driver in Cyprus. He knows first-hand how challenging it can be serving in an operational environment because he spent 4 months as a Battlefield Ambulance driver while serving in Iraq. He says: ‘It was my job to assist the medical team with getting the troops to medical aid as quickly as possible.’ Steve played an absolutely vital role in supporting injured male and female personnel, and found the experience tough.  He adds that it was a particularly difficult event that spurred him to want to raise as much awareness as possible for the British Armed Forces and the work they do:  ‘A week after I returned home a friend of mine that I was serving with out there was killed in a roadside blast.’

As a result of his time in Iraq, Steve suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and this is why he is looking to help others returning from operations abroad. ‘I feel that if I can help raise awareness and funding for these returning troops, hopefully somebody else won’t have to go through the same thing.’

Steve is now halfway through his marathon training, and we’re looking forward to cheering him on on April 25th! If you would like to sponsor Steve, simply head over to his Just Giving page.

Hi everyone,

Some of you have have got in touch with me overnight to report a spammer. This person, who joined LL under the pretence of being a supporter of The Royal British Legion, persisted in contacting other members with a message of nonsenical content. This person has now been removed, and their account banned.

We are more than aware that as LegionLive grows, we need to protect the site and our members from such people, and are working hard to ensure that this does not occur in the future. We are putting into effect tough measures.

Please accept my and LegionLive’s sincere apologies that this has happened; it is important in these instances to ignore such messages and steer clear of replying to them with any personal details. Please be reassured, however, that no private information can be extracted from messages of this type. I will be personally getting in touch with each member who has contacted me about this.

Thank you for your patience,

Poppy

As a mark of respect to the three British servicemen tragically killed in Afghanistan last month, a repatriation ceremony is to be held at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire this Thursday.

Sgt Paul Fox of the 28 Engineer Regiment, Rifleman Martin Kinggett of the 4th Battalion The Rifles and SAC Luke Southgate are to be saluted by members of the public and The Royal British Legion, before the cortege is taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Headington.

Our thoughts are with the families,  friends and loved ones of these fallen heroes.

Yesterday our British forces in Afghanistan were treated to a royal visit from none other than Princess Anne.

The Princess Royal, who is Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, spent time in Camp Bastion, and met soldiers from several units, including military dog handlers. It was this group that the Princess particularly impressed, with Handler Cpl Edward Kingsland saying: “The Princess Royal has taken a real interest in our work and experiences. I’m delighted that the dog unit is getting the recognition it deserves. It will be the same for all of those units who don’t necessarily make it into the headlines.”

The Princess Royal also took time to speak with the soldiers of the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment, 9 Regimental Royal Logistics Corps, the Household Cavalry Regiment and 205 Field Hospital at Camp Bastion.

Unsurprisingly, Capt Jo Barr, Adjutant of Bastion Joint Operating Base, said that the visit had been a great morale boost for the British troops!