Thank you for coming to our page. Darren Smith and I are proud
to be former members of the Queens company, 1^st Bn Grenadier Guards and will be riding unsupported from Istanbul to London in just 10 days. This is going to be an extremely arduous task for two very good causes, The Colonel's Fund and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

The Colonel's Fund

We consider ourselves a close family regiment. During recent years conflicts

around the world have taken their toll on our service men and their families
which various physical and psychiatric injuries. The Colonel's Fund,
established by the regiment to address these areas.

Objectives of the Fund

• The next ten years promise to make extraordinary demands on
  the Regiment, serving Grenadiers, their partners and families and particularly those members of the Regiment who have left through disability or work- related illness. The Colonel's Fund Grenadier Guards is designed to support, alleviate and improve the prospects of all those Grenadiers subsequently in need. Specifically, kit will enable the Regiment to:

• support the families of those killed in action by promptly responding to problems of bereavement and hardship.

• support those wounded or injured on operations, particularly those who have had to leave the Army; to assist in finding them new employment and to help them become active family and community members.

• support the families of those seriously wounded or injured in prolonged recovery situations. Trustees will have wide discretion to use the fund to enhance the welfare of Grenadiers on operations and that of their families at home. Furthermore, they will be able to use capital as well as income if they deem it appropriate.

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

There are currently 400,000 people in the UK with type 1 diabetes, over 29,000 of them are children.

The JDRF are committed to eradicating type 1 diabetes and its effects for everyone in the UK with type 1, and at risk of developing it. To work towards a day when there is no more type 1 we fund world-class research approved and administered by our international research programme to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes make sure research moves forward and treatments are delivered as fast as possible give support and a voice to people with type 1 and their families