Story
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Some months ago a friend persuaded me to join her in doing a 50 mile hike up on the Long Mynd in Shropshire. This is due to take place on the 1 weekend of October.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I naively enthused about this challenge,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had no idea that it was a competitive event to be completed within 24 hours, much of which would be in darkness, navigating with the aid of torch, map and compass “off-piste” over rugged countryside, with about 8,000 feet of climbing over 8 summits, and necessitating the packing of an emergency whistle! At this point, I felt it would be madness for me to attempt it.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">However, last week I watched the BBC programme, “Harry’s Arctic Heroes” about an unsupported expedition to the North Pole by wounded servicemen and it changed my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing how these courageous soldiers trudged relentlessly across the crusty, uneven, snow-covered, broken ice fields of the Arctic in sub-zero temperatures and pulling their heavy sledges, despite the awful injuries they had sustained in Afghanistan and the inevitable pain that those injuries will have caused on this expedition, I felt passionately that I would like to raise money for wounded soldiers.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">I have chosen to support my brother’s old regiment, The Rifle Regiment which, in January 2010 launched their “Care for Casualties” Appeal in response to the Regiment’s ever-increasing number of operational casualties</span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;">The Rifles have suffered more casualties than any other regiment with 58 Killed in Action and over 300 seriously wounded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;; color: black; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">These soldiers have done so much for us at great cost to themselves - please give as generously as you can by donating on this site. </span></span></p>