18 NAVY NEWS, MAY 2010
A fridge too far i h4h
FORMER Naval diver and sonar operator Matthew Hollox has taken on a 3,000-mile trek around the UK, taking with him a 200kg fridge... Matthew’s unusual companion joined him on his trek when a local club asked him to dispose of the appliance. “It’s definitely much heavier
Climbing Everest in John’s memory
TWO FRIENDS of John Thornton, a Royal Marines officer who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008, have set out to climb Mount Everest to raise money for a charity set up in his memory. Matt Snook,
Marine from Bournemouth, and his friend Pete Sunnucks, 27, from
Wolverhampton, (pictured above)
an aspiring Royal Engineers officer, are scheduled to climb the risky North Ridge this month. They hope to raise £100,000 to be split between the John Thornton Young Achievers’ Foundation and Help for Heroes. The JTYA Foundation provides
24, a Royal
big climb. They have climbed in the
Alps, English Lakes and Scottish Highlands and have specialist endurance tasks ahead of them. Matt said: “Many of our friends
scholarships and bursaries for training and personal development, with the simple objective of encouraging and assisting young people to live their dreams. Matt and Pete have spent the last few months in training, building up experience for the
are serving in the Armed Forces, some of whom are deployed in Afghanistan, some are preparing to deploy and others have recently returned home. “We want to raise money for Help for Heroes, to aid those who have suffered horrific injuries in the line of duty. “We are also fundraising in memory of our dear friend John Thornton, who we tragically lost.
than I’d originally imagined, but it’s waterproof and the right size for storing my equipment. “It’s ideal for displaying pictures of the servicemen who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Matthew set off on his ‘monumental walk’ in January, and plans to return home to Nottingham in November zigzagging his way across the country.
His aim is to raise a significant amount of money for the National Memorial Arboretum Appeal. In March he returned to Raleigh for the first time in 34 years, and met some of the trainee sailors. He said: “It’s quite emotional
l Matthew Hollox visits Raleigh on his monumental walk
being back here. I’ve got good memories of Raleigh. “It was really great to be with youngsters of my age, all wanting
to do the same thing.” If you would like to sponsor
Matthew, go to www.justgiving.
com/matthew-hollox.
“It’s a lifetime’s ambition for both of us and an honour to be doing it for these charities.” To contribute to either charity and support Matt and Pete,
visit www.justgiving.co.uk/ everrestforheroes
Hasler hikeVote RNBT
com for more information. n The ‘Ride to the Rock’ team planning to cycle from Portsmouth to Gibraltar in September, and then race up the rock.
The team has already raised £200 by washing cars in the car parks at HMS Excellent in Portsmouth.
DUNCAN Nicoll, a former RN sailor and father of two Royal Marines, has raised £3,000 for Hasler Company, the rehabilitation unit
for injured Commandos with his
long-distance walk.
Duncan, 60, survived some of
the worst weather the winter could throw at him as he walked 630 miles on the South West Coastal Path from Minehead to Poole in aid of the unit. He slept in a tiny tent which he pitched on numerous golf courses, including a Paignton pitch-and- putt course from where he was moved on by police.
Duncan collected money as he
walked, including donations from golfers and an American couple. He said: “I saw the news of Hasler Company opening and Mark Ormrod the Marine who lost two legs and an arm in Afghanistan and I thought of ways I could help them out at my advanced age. “One of my sons, Tom, served
in Afghanistan when he was with 42 Commando and was injured, so it all means a lot to me and my wife.”
He added: “The walk was hard,
but the thought that the proceeds were going to a good cause kept me going through the toughest parts, mentally and physically. “It was very touching and
spurred me on even more when people stopped me and gave me money on the spot.”
Two Devon villages have set aside their usual friendly rivalry to raise money for Hasler Company. Noss Mayo and Newton Ferrers in South Devon have donated nearly £2,500 to the unit after a series of charity events. Mike Leonard, editor of the area community newspaper Private Nose raised most of the money by an appeal through the pages. The officer commanding Hasler Company, Major Pete Curtis, said: “I am impressed that two villages should come together like this and generously raise funds for Hasler Company. “It shows the strong community
spirit that still exists in places like that and what positive results it can achieve.
“The lads of Hasler Company
are very moved also that they have been thought about by all the kind people of Noss Mayo and Newton Ferrers.”
Hasler Company opened last September. It is based in Devonport Naval Base and manages
the needs of Marines
affected in various ways by combat and other aspects of service life. The unit ensures that they
receive the mental and physical support and services they need to regain health and fitness and think about their futures, whether in or out of the Royal Marines.
Around the UK in many ways
WHEN you’re deployed to far-off shores one of the many things you think about is home, and the ship’s company of HMS Pembroke were no exception.
MCM1 Crew 7, who joined the ship in the Gulf last August, started their deployment dreaming of rain and green grass. But not for long; Coxswain PO(D) Garth Spence soon set them a challenge – to circumnavigate the UK using the gym equipment onboard. So as Pembroke readied for sea for the first time with her new crew, she also left Faslane to begin her UK circumnavigation – with the aim of completing 1,820 nautical miles in eight months. But as Pembroke isn’t a large
ship, squeezing gym equipment onboard was a challenge of its own, and many and various were the ruses the crew adopted, from using a cross-trainer on the upper-
deck to a bike in the hangar and a rowing machine in the gyro space.
Each time a piece of equipment
was used the distance was noted and plotted on the chart, edging ever closer to the goal.
The crew relished the challenge and soon set up several mini competitions, most notably the sub-three minute group for 1km on the rowing machine. There was a time coming
towards the end of the deployment when there were fears that they wouldn’t make it back to Faslane – but the crew pulled together over the last few weeks, hitting the gym equipment in the hope of reaching the target and burning a few calories for good measure. They finally covered the last 200 miles in good time, not only making it all the way back to Faslane, but raising money for the RNRMC in the process.
THE Royal Naval Benevolent Trust (RNBT) is looking for new trustees.
serving and retired ratings and their families who find themselves in need or distress. One of its founding principles
is that it is run predominantly by current and former sailors and marines. Eleven of the 17 trustees on
the governing body come from this group and are known as Ordinary Member Trustees. Under recent changes to the
The RNBT provides for
charter, the first elections for Ordinary Member Trustees take place in June. If you are interested or want
to contribute, please contact the RNBT’s head office in Portsmouth on 023 9269 0112 or
email
rnbt@rnbt.org.uk.
Grumpy Shep
KEEN supporter of Naval charities Shep Woolley has released his sixth CD entitled
Grumpy Old Matelot.
Although Shep’s time as a
performer on the boards more than doubles his time on board, he remains a keen fundraiser for Seafarers, Help for Heroes and the ‘grumpy old matelots’ of RNBT’s Pembroke House. The CD costs £10 with £4 postage and packing to J Woolley, 7 Livingstone Road, Southsea PO5 1RS.
849 go 831
A LOCAL Sea Cadet unit benefitted from the pedal power of 849 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Culdrose. The airmen took to the static
bikes at the base’s fitness suite to cycle 831 miles in 12 hours – the equivalent of the distance from Lizard Point to John O’Groats. The Falmouth and Penryn Sea Cadet Unit will gain £650 to buy a trailer to transport equipment and baggage to their various activities; and over £100 will be donated to a charity that is helping a local schoolboy Max Levene, who was paralysed in a rugby accident. Some 56 members of 849 NAS took to the bikes to keep up an average pace of 16.9 miles per hour – and in the process caused one of the cycling machines to break down... Event organisers Lt Craig
Jordan and AET Simon Pomeroy praised everyone involved.
Duncan’s
CHARITY Help for Heroes has hit its £40 million milestone – in just over two years since its launch.
n brief
The charity was launched in October 2007 and has received an average of £47,000 every single day ever since. Its latest appeal, ‘The Launch pad to Life,’ fund has enabled H4H to grant £20 million to help build four Recovery Centres for wounded servicemen and women. The centres are planned to be
in Catterick Colchester, Tidworth and Edinburgh. RN support for H4H includes: n CPO Sam Gilmore, a WAFU chief serving in RAF Wyton on the Harrier circuit.
Sam and his RAF colleagues organised a bands evening in Bedford during a local beer festival to raise money for H4H. n C/Sgt ‘Darby’ Allen from 848 NAS, who is joining ‘Everest 4 Heroes,’ eight military veterans from all three services who plan to climb Mount Everest in 2012, raising money by ‘selling’ off sections of the mountain per foot climbed.
Visit www.everest4heroes.
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