Forncett Village Info

We did the ride last week, and I got home late on Monday evening.  I wanted to tell you something about it, but most of all to thank you again for your donation and kind words of support.

No words are adequate enough to describe what it was like.   It was wonderful.   300 riders took part, backed up by fantastic support teams from H4H itself and Discover Adventure, the company which arranged accommodation; route marking; medical care, and cycle repair support. 

Without exaggeration it showed the best of British spirit.  The riders came from military, ex-military and non-military backgrounds; aged from 18 to late 60s; very thin to very fat; plenty of keen cyclists but mostly non-cyclists. All were there for different personal reasons, but all with the ultimate aim of helping the wounded.  The presence of several amputee soldiers riding normal bikes brought home what these guys can do and achieve with the right support. The young officer from my own regiment who was paralyzed from the waist down peddled his hand-powered bike 75 miles a day like the rest of us….he overtook the slower people.  Another guy, also from my regiment, lost his leg, not in Iraq or Afghanistan but in Switzerland on the Cresta Run. He said, “Odd really…I started off at the top with two feet, and finished with one..but at least we broke the course record”!!   We soon got used to seeing them sit down on chairs at our picnic lunches, with their prosthetic legs standing upright and bizarrely alone beside them as they gave their stumps a short break. All were an inspiration to the rest of us, all were determined. 

Each day we had a brief service and wreath-laying ceremony at one or other of the numerous World War I or II cemeteries we visited en route: for many this was a moment for tears and quiet reflection about the soldiers who gave their lives in conflicts of generations past. One of the wreaths was laid by a young rider whose brother died in Afghanistan a year ago to the day. Four professional battlefield guides gave superb accounts of the battles that took place at each place where we stopped; stories of political and military incompetence, of chaos, of horror, and bravery too (some things don’t seem to change)…too many to list of course.  I took a photo of the adjacent graves of twins who died in the same battle next to each other at Ploegsteert.  To this day the French and Belgians remember and openly acknowledge their debt to our dead for saving their countries; Britain has largely forgotten since its territory was not threatened or devastated. Many locals said kind things: in one tiny village the primary school children sang God Save the Queen in English at the English graves in their village churchyard; its mayor delivered a moving speech, also in English; an elderly resident told me of how his teenage friend was shot along the street.  On the Somme I made a personal diversion off the route to lay a poppy cross at the grave of my great uncle killed in August 1918.

We started with a parade and marvellous send-off at HMS Victory in the naval dockyard at Portsmouth; the Royal Marines band played us off; en route riders met up and chatted with each other as we cycled along; in the evening we shared happy meals and drinks; we all slept like babies; on the second day we rode the whole day in constant downpour after a thunder and lightning start; we encouraged the strugglers up all the hills. At Dunkerque I was very touched to find that a patient of mine had come all the way there to greet me with a Welcome banner. We cycled en masse to the official Franco-British ceremony on the 70th anniversary (to the exact day) of the evacuation: at that ceremony a 91 year old French veteran collapsed and died in front of us; we watched a parade in the town in the afternoon; we left on a Royal Fleet auxiliary ship (entering its enormous internal dock by landing craft was straight out of a James Bond film!); at Dover a Spitfire performed a fabulous 20 minute display repeatedly flying along the ship’s side at eye level a mere 60 feet away then soaring up; we landed on the beach at Dover from the same landing craft; the Parachute Regiment’s Red Devils dropped in, spot on target in front of us.  Unforgettable from first to last.

The donations from all of you stand at almost £10,000 (including Gift Aid)…an astonishing figure.  So far the total of donations for this ride alone has reached a staggering £1m, with Gift Aid adding about 25% extra.  Fittingly, the £8m major extension and refurbishment at Headley Court, the Services Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey, is being formally opened this week.  All of this and much more has been made possible by the kindness and generosity of thousands of donors like you. The riders and wounded servicemen are enormously proud of your efforts to help, and I can guarantee that you have every right to feel proud of the young men and women who serve in our Army, Navy and Air Force to look after us despite huge difficulties facing the Services on the economic, political and military fronts.

Each of you has made the effort that allows H4H to deliver the goods. On behalf of H4H, thank you so much. 

PS: I have put a few of my own photos on Flickr for you (click here); also a short composite video which I took with my helmet camera (click here).  There are many more on the Help for Heroes website (click here), as well as more information about H4H generally. There is also a map of the route as logged by my bike’s GPS computer (click here)