A good friend of mine and former officer (“Crooky”) introduced me to Andy Reid whom he served with in Northern Ireland in the late '90s. Andy sustained serious injuries 2 years ago whilst serving in Afghanistan. Andy is now a triple amputee and meeting someone with such pride, determination and a zero BS attitude was quite simply jaw-dropping. His road has been long and hard and though he quite clearly appreciates all the support from various sources he made a very good point re. the ABF that is now firmly rooted: That it’s not just about Afghanistan, the ABF is there for soldiers and their families ALL the time. They have been around a long time and will continue to be so long after the latest conflict.

 

See more about Andy at http://www.soldierscharity.org/how-we-help/andy-reid/

So here I am training for my 2nd Virgin London Marathon. I am a little older, no wiser but this time I’m doing it for charity and a very worthy one. Please dig deep folks.

The Army Benevolent Fund is known as the “The Soldiers’ Charity”. They give lifetime support to serving and retired soldiers and their families. Soldiers risk so much for us, but for them, it’s just doing their job.

The ABF provide financial assistance when soldiers are in real need. That’s what they’ve been doing for over 66 years.

They have seen a 30% rise over the past two years in applications from soldiers who have taken part in previous and current conflicts and we currently raise £7 million a year to meet this need.

As a result of Current Operations it is anticipated that the requests for assistance will rise significantly in the coming years. It is the aim of the ABF to increase fundraising to £14 million a year by 2015 to be sure that we can help each and every soldier that needs our help.

They depend entirely on your donations and goodwill to do this.

Many thanks,

Chris.