The squad of high-speed mountaineers are all from the EADS Astrium satellite factory in Hilsea, and undertook the feat to raise cash for a trio of charities.

Led by electrical engineer Mark Butler, they scaled Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike, and Snowdon in 23 hours and 20 minutes.

Setting off from Portsmouth, they stayed overnight in Scotland and tackled the 4,400ft Ben Nevis.

They came down after five hours, got in a bus, and drove to the two other mountains - finally completing the epic trek the next day.

Mr Butler, 43, from Middlecroft Lane, Gosport, said: ‘It was very, very hard.

‘I was writing a blog as I went along and the final entry read: “The sense of achievement far outweighs the sense of pain”.

‘And the sense of achievement was fantastic, sitting in the Pen-y Pass car park drinking Champagne afterwards.

‘It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing.’

He said the Scafell Pike trek, which they were forced to undertake at night, was an ‘achievement in itself, without losing anybody or anyone hurting themselves’.

Engineering manager Darren Blake, 35 and from Suffolk Drive, Whiteley, said: ‘Because it’s for charity we wanted to succeed.

‘It all seemed like a good idea at the time.

‘But when the old knees started failing coming downhill it didn’t seem such a good idea.

‘But we were all focused to succeed within the 24 hours.’

The team was made up of eight walkers and two drivers.

Altogether, the three combined peaks amounted to 11,208ft.

And in the end they raised close to £4,000 for three different charities - Macmillan Cancer Support, The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s fund, and Mountain Rescue.

This is £1,000 more than they had initially hoped.

Now one of the world’s most respected military research centres has launched a three-year study into the effects of military life on service children.

Partly funded by a £1million grant from the US defence department, the project by the King’s Centre for military health Research in London hope to offer a definitive explantion as to how young children are affected by military life.

“We know little about the impact of fathers’ wellbeing on children’s development and it is particularly interesting with the addition of serperation due to deployment” said lead researcher  Dr Amy Iversen, of Kings College Institute of Psychiatry.

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“He thinks the war is his fault because he’s the son of a soldier,” says Gale Russell. “I was taking him to school the other day and he said, ‘Why isn’t Afghanistan over now? All my life it’s been going on – aren’t all the baddies dead yet?’ He went very quiet and my husband took him for a walk. That’s when it came around that he thinks it’s his fault.”

Russell says she doesn’t know why her son thinks this way: “I feel very proud of what my husband does but William just doesn’t feel the same. The media’s partly to blame. All children hear about is death, dying, destruction – even on Newsround. I try and explain that his father’s not just going to fight, he’s going to help, but it’s difficult to get through.”

Sitting neatly on his living room sofa, William tells me he’s looking forward to moving to boarding school in September. His dad’s job has meant that he has already had to change schools three times – boarding school will be his first chance to keep the friends he makes. He talks enthusiastically about studying to become an engineer. Doesn’t he want to be a soldier like his father? “No,” he says going quiet. “I don’t really like violence. I’m a bit too scared. It’s really nerve-racking not knowing whether he’s going to come back or not.” When I ask him what his dad is fighting for, he shrugs his shoulders: “The Queen? I know he kills people.”

With the war in Afghanistan being a hot political issue, all three main political parties promised improved welfare provision and housing for British troops and their families in their election manifestos, and the Labour government recently increased resources for personal care for members of the armed forces. But little attention has been paid to the 175,000 service children. One of the first comprehensive reports on service children, from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund, revealed this year that 87% of families found it difficult when a parent or partner was away. Almost half of children in service accommodation are forced to move every year; divorce rates are double the national average; and bullying of service children is prevalent, said the report. It documented children bed-wetting, nail-biting and refusing to go to school for fear of losing their remaining parent.

“It’s OK if the mother is managing well at home,” says Monique Bateman, director of the children’s fund. “But the problems often arise in the playground – ‘Your daddy is killing people’ comes up a lot. If things aren’t going well at home, then the boys try and become the man and don’t show their emotions. That can cause behavioural problems at school. We’re storing up problems for the future if we don’t deal with this – it’s a ticking time bomb.”

Many of the problems faced by service children and their families stem from being constantly on the move. Around 20,000 families follow service personnel on new deployments, but this is likely to be an underestimation as it excludes families who privately rent or own their homes. The moves separate children from their extended families and support networks, and put families at the bottom of the list for accessing public services.

According to the 2008 Army Families survey, only 30% of moving families retained their places on NHS waiting lists and only 63% of children are accessing NHS dental treatment. Meanwhile, 37% of officers’ and 25% of soldiers’ families had problems getting a place at their preferred school. With just 12 weeks’ notice before deployment, it is hard for families to prepare.

In 2008, the government did commit to doing things differently. Of 47 recommendations made in the Service Personnel Command Paper, 15 have been implemented, including a provision to allow schools to exceed student limits for armed forces’ children. Moves to retain places on NHS waiting lists are also being implemented.

But the children’s fund believes that discrimination continues, and often it is single-parent families that suffer. Six per cent of the families the fund helps have seen a parent or sibling die in the forces. Those who do return home aren’t always the same – the physical and emotional scars of life on the frontline often come with them, and households suffer from the fallout. According to the fund, 70% of service spouses say military operations have had a negative impact on their marriages, which frequently end in divorce.

“One woman came to us saying her husband had left her and her two daughters because he couldn’t face living with them after Afghanistan,” says Bateman.

“The family now faces eviction from service accommodation and we are trying to provide funding to keep them going.” She is sceptical of commitments made by politicians to service families, especially extending their rights to public services: “It’s pie in the sky. Local authorities are having trouble meeting existing obligations, let alone extending them.

“Our charity is already picking up the slack, particularly for respite funding. We used to be the icing on the cake, now we’re part of core provision.”

The children’s fund calls for more research into service children, and closer working between the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Children, Schools and Families to ensure schools are more sensitive to their needs. Service accommodation should be extended and improved, pay raised, and more notice given before deployment, it says.

Despite the problems, Russell is keen to point out the army saves her family from the threat of unemployment and eviction facing so many other families in the recession. Yet small clues around her house demonstrate she is worried about the impact that her husband’s job has on William’s wellbeing – the news is never on and daddy’s uniform is always out of sight. But you can’t hide everything.

“Telling them their father is going away again is difficult,” she says. “Then they start counting down the days. In some ways, it’s easier when they’re away – at least then you’re counting until they come back.”

Southampton mum Anna Matthews hopes her new family-friendly website - homefrontforces.com - will help east the seperation period. She talks to Paula Thompson.

“There are more than 175,000 UK children with parents in the Armed Forces - children who reguarly face long periods of seperation from their mums or dads deployed overseas.”

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BAE Charity ROT 1

BAE Charity ROT 2

Dozens of BAE Systems staff donned costumes and pounded round Portsmouth Naval Base in warm spring sunshine.

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund will benefit from Thursday’s action, and from other fundraising done in the next two years.

The 3,000 workers at the base have opted to support the charity, based at Castaway House in Twyford Avenue, Stamshaw.

While most runners left the corner of Daring building in shorts and T-shirt, one man was walking with two stout sticks.

Sean Collins, 39, groaned his way past the start line under 300lbs of lifting weights.

The engineering manager from Cosham, Portsmouth, said: ‘I wanted to make it a challenge to remember, so I decided to run with extra weight.

‘I was looking at the 30lbs the Royal Marines carry on their qualifying runs, and I thought it would be good to take a larger amount.

‘It’s not me saying I can carry more than them, it was just a challenge I wanted to do.’

Running ahead of him were a team clad in heavy clothing and breathing apparatus from BAE’s rescue team.

Chief Petty Officer Mac McColloch, 42, on secondment from the navy, said: ‘It was a bit tough running in the heavy gear but it was for a good cause.

‘I served most recently in HMS Ark Royal, and while I’ve never needed the charity it’s important to have the support there.’

The BAE staff were launching their first Charity Challenge programme since the company was renamed from BVT.

The BAE site at Broad Oak in Anchorage Park supports the Royal British Legion, reflecting the defence giant’s wish to link up with local forces charities.

Elliot Webber, charity co- ordinator at BAE Systems in Portsmouth, said: ‘We felt it was important to support a charity which is close to us here in the yard.

‘The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund gives invaluable support to local children and we are excited that they are our partner charity for this fundraising campaign.’

Clare Scherer, of the children’s fund, said: ‘We are delighted we have been chosen by BAE Systems.

‘With increasing numbers of Royal Marines and Royal Navy being deployed in Afghanistan, we are seeing a resulting impact on their families and an increased demand for our support.’

The charity provides support including childcare, special needs education, days out and in-home support in times of crisis.

Click on an image to enlarge

To read more about the King’s College London project, click here: http://tr.im/RjF7

Please help me raise money by donating at the hyperlink below:

http://www.justgiving.com/ChrisMurphyEdinburghMarathon2010

Your support is very much appreciated.
Chris

Below is a snapshot of some of the media coverage:

NATIONAL PRESS:

• View The Independent article ‘Casualties of war: how forces children bear scars of conflict: A report reveals bullying, mortal fear, and schools that just do not understand’ here
• View The Guardian article ‘Soldiers’ children face ‘ticking timebomb’ of problems - says charity: The emotional, psychological and financial problems faced by children of armed forces serving in Iraq or Afghanistan are not being adequately addressed - report finds’ here
• View The TES article ‘Report calls for more support for those with parents deployed in war zones’ here
• View The BBC Online article ‘Forces children face ‘time bomb’’ here
• View The BBC Online article ‘Helping the hidden victims of war’ here

• BBC National News: During December we put the BBC in touch with one of the schools we regularly work with – Widewell Primary School in Plymouth – and whose pupils kindly drew many of the pictures featured in our ‘Overlooked Casualties of Conflict’ report. The BBC interviewed nine year-old Ross McNaught, whose Dad is currently in Afghanistan, and profiled the Arc Community project, which is funded by us and Royal Sailor’s Rest (two independent charities). The BBC also interviewed Professor Yule, who contributed to our report. We were delighted to see the problems faced by Service children reach the national news, and welcome the announcement that the Ministry of Defence has now commissioned research into this topic. Watch the report here, which appeared on the 1pm and 6pm national news on 21st December 2009, and read the piece here.
• British Forces Broadcasting Service: The BFBS has produced a 4 minute recording which highlights the educational and emotional problems that the children of Service personnel can face. The BFBS, a broadcasting unit that connects the British Forces community wherever they are in the world through television and radio, spoke to one of the children we’ve helped whose Dad is currently away on operational duty in Afghanistan, as well as his Mum. The broadcast went out to serving families across the seas living as far as Cyprus, Belize and Germany. To visit the page website please click here or click here to download the report.

• Radio 4 Woman’s Hour: In response to the issues raised in our report, Woman’s Hour held a debate about Service children on 27th November. Our Director, Monique Bateman, was invited to speak along with Julie McCarthy of the Army Families Federation. One of the children we have helped was also interviewed to share his point of view. To visit the website click here or click here to download the interview.
• Our Director, Monique Bateman, was interviewed on Radio Solent and The Quay, and the report was also discussed on Heart Plymouth and Gold Plymouth.

The full version of the report can be downloaded here.

The press release accompanying the report can be downloaded here.

We would like to thank everyone who attended and provided support for this fantastic initiative.

Les said, “I am personally grateful for my own family’s good health and as an ex-serviceman recognise how life would have been much harder if I’d had family health and welfare problems.”

Show your support by sponsoring him at www.justgiving.com/leslieroper

Click on the picture to see their flyer.

To see which MPs have signed the EDM so far, please follow this link: http://tr.im/jU0L.

To view the EDM, click on the following link and look for number 1054: http://tr.im/hibR

(Click Here)

Profile: Royalnavyandroyalmarines Children’s Fund

Groups: The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Children’s Fund
Help for Forces Families

One of our children spoke live on air about how The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund and Wiston’s Wish have helped her in the past and how their new partnership will enable both charities to help more children in the future!

Monique Bateman, our Director, has recieved a cheque for £10,000 from The Royal Marines, following thier sponsored row, and a further £15,000 from Portsmouth FC courtesy of the FA Community Shield Fund! The presentation was made at Fratton Park, Sunday 30th November, before the Portsmouth vs Blackburn game.