LegionLive

Former England football manager Graham Taylor OBE has saddled up in London’s Greenwich Park to join 300 riders for the RBL’s Pedal to Paris event.

Pedal to Paris is now in its 15th year, and sees riders take on nearly 300 miles of road as they cycle to the Arc de Triomphe in France. Graham will be arriving at the final destination on Sunday afternoon, and earlier today he shared his excitement: ‘I’m really looking forward to testing myself, I hear it can be pretty gruelling. I’m confident that I will finish the ride - I’m already looking forward to the champagne at the Arc de Triomphe!’

The Legion is hoping to raise £500,000 from the ride for the Battle Back Challenge Centre, which will provide injured Service personnel with adaptive sports and adventure training when it opens in 2012.

Graham is a long-time supporter of the Legion, and has said that the bike ride ‘promises to be both challenging and rewarding - and knowing that it will raise funds for the Battle Back Centre is reward enough for me. The Legion is such a worthy cause, and the work they do is so important at the moment, what with events in Afghanistan.’

To show Graham your support, head over to his Just Giving donation page or text ‘Graham’ to 70222. Texts will cost £3.00, plus your standard network charge.

Brave British SAS members have been working tirelessly to fight against the Taliban bomb makers, and have taken out a large number of high-profile leaders.

Over the past month, the Nato-led force has successfully disrupted the enemy by wiping out many of its commanders and detaining a further 500 insurgents. Thankfully this has led to the number of improvised explosive devices being laid in Helmand to drop by 25 per cent in the past three months, with our fantastic British Forces playing a leading role in this.

There has also been a dip in British casualties in Helmand, the heart of the Taliban insurgency, thanks to this great effort by our brave servicemen and women who are going out night after night, tracking down and eliminating terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, using their expertise and experience from Iraq.

Carry on the brave work guys!

As her youngest son, Colby, starts military college next week, proud mum Hayley Jensen has seen all four of her boys head off to serve for their country.

24 year old Corporal Nick Jensen-Watts will be joined in the Royal Mercians by his brothers, 21 year old Jorda, 17 year old Brook, and following in their footsteps, Colby.

Nick has served in two tours of Iraq and leaves for Afghanistan next year. Looking up to their big brother, the boys were inspired by his stories and one by one decided to enlist.

Hayley spoke of her boys’ career choices, saying: ‘As a mum, I am deeply apprehensive as we all know what happens during a war.  As an Englishwoman I am immensely proud that my boys want a good career, to represent their country and to fight for a cause they believe in.

‘I am filled with pride for my boys…they are the bravest people I know.’

It must be a very worrying time for Hayley, but what brave sons she has. It’s also warming to know they’ll all be together to look out for eachother like true brothers in arms.

A veteran Cheshire Fire and Rescue service worker is preparing to join a team of 10 others for the Pedal to Paris challenge

Brian Tuohy, now a health and safety consultant for the Fire and Rescue service will be joining the other members of Team Colomendy for the London to Paris cycle bid.

Together, they will join nearly 300 cyclists including Lance Corporal Katrina Hodge over four days to raise funds in aid of the Royal British Legion.

On his upcoming challenge, Brian, said: ‘This fundraiser is interesting to me because I have a friend’s son who is going on his third tour of duty and friends with connections who are doing their best out there.

‘We have done the training but the main challenge is struggling with the emotional side because we have a meeting each evening in France where the Last Post is played.

 ‘We have raised about £8,800 so far as a group, with more from sponsorship to come.’

Sounds great to me! If you want to sponsor Brian and his group, or just want more details, visit his fundraising page here.

Have you had a chance to pay a visit to The Royal British Legion’s Poppy Shop yet? As the end of summer nears (no!), thoughts naturally start turning to October’s Poppy Appeal and the ways we can show our support for the British Armed Forces.

At the RBL’s shop you can find Poppy Appeal-related pins, jewellery and accessories, but that isn’t all. How about a Max Res wristband? Some wartime music? A T-shirt? A poppy-emblazoned umbrella? Whatever you’re after the Poppy Shop is sure to have it, so do please take a look to help the Legion keep supporting ex and current members of the Armed Forces the way they do!

 

Do you fancy knowing a bit more about the role of plants in the war?

 

The November edition of Wild About Plants’ freenewsletter will look at the differences between varieties of poppies, so I’ll be sure to take a look!

 

It will also feature an article on the role of plants in war, including plants collected during the first and Second World War to help the nation. Sounds like an interesting read!

One of my Facebook friends, Darren Heaton, is about to tackle a 10 day charity walk in aid of several military charities, including the Legion.

Despite a spinal injury and heart condition, Darren will attempt the 239 mile route to raise important funds for our Armed Forces.

He will start in his home town, Glossop near Manchester on 14th September and end at Wellington Barracks, London on 23rd September.

Members of the barracks, along with a military band, will be there to congratulate him on completing his journey along with a military band.

Accompanying Darren during this event will be Bertie Bear who is the official Mascot of the Grenadier Guards. Bertie Bear regularly travels around the world in association with raising funds for injured servicemen and has recently returned from Afghanistan.

Darren Heaton said: ‘My son, Chris Heaton, is a serving Grenadier Guard who has recently returned from a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Whilst out there he unfortunately lost comrades during engagements with the Taliban and witnessed injuries to close friends. With such a personal connection, this has led me to attempt this 239-mile journey to raise money for injured British troops, especially the Grenadier Guards who have close links with the four charities I have chosen.

‘As a wheelchair user, the challenge ahead is a little daunting however I am determined to complete the journey to show my determination in supporting the UK soldiers who put their lives at risk everyday to make the world a safer place for us all.’

Please show Darren your support by making a donation through his fundraising page.

The Tank Museum in Bovington, in Dorset, are interviewing a succession of Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) soldiers about their experiences in Afghanistan.

 

The results will form an audio-visual exhibition, Battlegroup Afghanistan – The Armoured Soldier’s Story, planned to open at the museum in April 2011. Some of the experiences these soldiers have been recounting are specifically related to their armoured role; others are general to British Forces fighting the insurgency.

 

The Tank Museum’s curator David Willey comments that soldiers are ‘frustrated by what they see as a pervasive attitude at home - the point of view that all the deaths and injuries have been incurred in vain for some flawed campaign. It’s hurtful when they know themselves that they really do achieve a lot that is unacknowledged in the media.’

 

The Soldiers also talk about the hardships of living and fighting in such hostile terrain. Willey intends Battlegroup Afghanistan to redress the balance by putting across soldiers’ stories in their own words, including emotional returns from operations, the exhilaration and fear their work brings and their hopes for the future in Afghanistan.

 

If you’ve never been to the Museum, don’t be fooled by the name; it does much more than just display the odd tank. In an attempt to ensure that lessons from the past are learnt, it organises battlefield tours for the RAC, the most recent of which was the outing in May to Arras, France, the scene of a crucial tank engagement in 1940.

 

If you’re interested in visiting the museum, or taking part in a battlefield tour, just visit their website http://www.tankmuseum.org/ for more details.

 

The battle of Graveney Marsh, which took place 70 years ago, be commemorated next month as the last battle to be fought on British soil against a foreign enemy. To some, it is also remembered for its very unexpected ending…

 

On September 27, 1940, a Luftwaffe bomber was shot down by two Spitfires after a raid on London. Its four-man crew crash-landed on Graveney Marsh in Kent, not far from the Sportsman Inn, where members of the 1^st Battalion London Irish Rifles were billeted on invasion watch.

 

The British soldiers rushed out to investigate but were pushed back by fire from the German aircraft’s machine guns. When the Germans, two of whom were injured, finally surrendered, the soldiers took them back to the Sportsman Inn, where they very kindly bought the Germans a beer. Talk about making people feel at home!

 

London Irish Rifles Regimental Association will mark the anniversary by unveiling a plaque at the pub where the beer was bought.

 

Among those taking part in the ceremony on September 26^th will be Corporal George Willis, 90, the regiment’s piper, who was in the pub when the prisoners were brought in. Mr Willis, from Greenwich, South-East London, said: ‘We gave the Germans pints of beer in exchange for a few souvenirs. I got a set of enamel Luftwaffe wings’.

 

 

 

Ever wondered how to avoid a Lion attack? Or perhaps wished someone could tell you how exactly to escape a sinking vehicle?

 

Well, thanks to ex-Army hero James Shepherd-Barron, you no longer have to be left wondering. In James’ new ‘ultimate survival guide’, he passes on advice that helped him live to tell the tale of terrifying situations and catastrophes, such as how to survive an avalanche, how to fly a plane when the pilot’s unconscious and – for those of you who get lost at night – how to navigate by the stars.

 

James, a former Army helicopter pilot, decided to publish the handbook, titled ‘Everything that follows is based on recent, real-life experience that has been proven to work’, so that others wouldn’t have to learn the hard way!