Well it's been a year since my 100 miler for the RBL and this year my local branch need even more support as we're predicting a deficit in our annual Poppy Appeal fundraising following the closure of our Co-op, which used to facilitate nearly half of our donations due its busy nature.  With no new supermarket openings looking likely during this Poppy Appeal year, we're looking for more opportunities to maintain our respectable level of support to those in the armed forces community. The weekly cost of that support is currently running at around £1.6 million and sadly only allows help for the top 500,000 people most in need.  Half of that figure are below retirement age, partly as a result from the more recent campaigns such as Iraq and Afghanistan. 

So what am I doing?  Well on a military theme I thought I'd give the Pathfinder March a go!  Starting at 4am, I'll have 20 hours to walk the 46 miles via 4 former RAF Pathfinder Bases.  In normal Sam style, I've slimmed down to a feather-like 18.5 stone to facilitate this.  Having never walked anywhere near this far before in one go, I'm not overly confident that the journey will be a barrel of sunshine, but by getting sponsorship I'm hoping that moral obligation will push me through it. Failing that, I'm open to (legal and not too indignified) forfeits if I don't make the distance... suggestions on a postcard please...

For more information on the work of the RBL, please go to: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do 

For more information about the Pathfinder Force, please go to: http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/bombercommandno8group.cfm

Thanks for looking.

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