Three generations of my family have served with Gurkhas: My father (1934-‘48); myself (1961-‘92); and my son has served 19 years so far and recently completed his third tour in Afghanistan. I owe so much to the Gurkhas of the 2nd K E O Goorkhas (The Sirmoor Rifles) with whom I served, fought alongside in the Brunei Rebellion (1962-’63) and Borneo Confrontation (1963-’65), and commanded in Hong Kong and Brunei (1979-’81).  So it is hardly surprising that I have supported the Gurkha Welfare Trust ever since it was established over 40 years ago.

However, I want to mark this my 70th year by doing more for the Gurkha Welfare Trust than making donations and organising a charity Golf Day each year. Besides, I recently had a spinal fusion of four vertebrae and need a target to get back to full fitness. Thus I have set myself a challenge to walk the Pennine Way (268 miles) in 14 days in April in aid of the Gurkha Welfare Trust and Cairn Trust. Movingly concerned with my welfare my wife, Carol, did not want me to go solo.  I shall, therefore, be accompanied by a fellow ex-2nd Goorkha officer and great friend, Michael Willis, who is nearly 74 but a veteran of many challenges for the Trust – the last being 9 years ago when he climbed Mont Blanc – so we shall see who will be carrying whom!

The Pennine Way Challenge starts in the Peak District, goes through the Yorkshire Dales, North Pennines, Northumberland, Cheviots, and finishes in the Scottish Borders. The highest point of the trail is 3000ft, all the ascents together total 40,000ft, and 85% of the journey is across fell or moorland.  The normal time to complete the route is about 19-20 days. We intend to do it in 14 days. That is the challenge. The guidebooks say, ‘If attempted in a single continuous slog, the Pennine Way is tough. It requires fitness, stamina, determination, good humour and adaptability.’  We’ll see!

The Gurkha Welfare Trust (GWT) is a charity established in 1969 to provide a Welfare Pension for those Gurkhas who were discharged before they earned a Military Pension (i.e., 15 years service), or for their widows. The majority of these are ex-WWII veterans now in their 80s, but many others were made redundant during the various run-down phases of the Brigade of Gurkhas in the ’60s and ‘70s. There are about 10,000 Gurkhas or widows who qualify for Welfare Pensions and for whom the GWT needs to raise £4.3 million per year (£11,780 per day). In addition, the GWT provides Hardship Grants for ex-Gurkhas who suffer catastrophic loss through landslides, floods, and other disasters so common in the Himalayas.  The GWT also provides medical support for all ex-Gurkha Servicemen in Nepal, where there is no NHS, and carries out community aid projects for Gurkha villages – as does the Cairn Trust that builds, equips and maintains schools, which we also wish to support.  So all in all the GWT has to raise £10 million per year for these brave and fearless ex-Gurkhas who have helped fight our wars. A real ‘debt of honour’.

Michael and I are raising money specifically to help these ex-Gurkhas and their communities in Nepal through the two Trusts. To that end 85% of the total sum raised will go to the Gurkha Welfare Trust and 15% to the Cairn Trust.

 I hope you will feel that the devoted and heroic service that Gurkhas have given the British Crown in virtually every theatre of conflict, for nearly 200 years, amounts to a real debt of honour and justifies my writing to you.  If you would sponsor me on this septuagenarian challenge trek, the beneficiaries of your generosity will be immensely grateful – and I shall be too!

Thank you very much indeed.