A team of engineers have returned triumphant from a bid to climb three mountains in just 24 hours.
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.
William Russell is nine years old and lives in armed forces accommodation on the fringes of London. Behind the high barbed-wire fences and security checkpoints, the houses and neat green lawns makes his neighbourhood look more like Brookside than a barracks. But conflict underpins this peaceful community. William lives in fear of his father returning to serve in Afghanistan, and carries a guilt he doesn’t like to talk about.
“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.”
Waiting for a loved one in the Frrces to come home can be a deeply anxious time for a child…
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.”
Defence workers in fancy dress have launched a charity partnership by running a mile for the cause.
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
We are delighted to learn that the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has received £1million in funding from the US Department of Defense to conduct a three-year study to look at the health and wellbeing of children whose fathers either are, or have been, in the UK Armed Forces. We very much welcome this study and commend the project for at last looking specifically at the challenges being faced by service children, rather than overlooking them as another side issue. However, we are disappointed to see there is no planned commitment, research or attention from the UK Government in any way. Our recent report, ‘The Overlooked Casualties of Conflict’, found that there are over 175,000 service children in the UK, and we think these children deserve some consideration and understanding from our own Government as well.
To read more about the King’s College London project, click here: http://tr.im/RjF7
My aim is to raise as much money as possible for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Children’s Fund. I have previously competed in two London Marathons and the Three Peaks challenge in order to raise money for this extremely worth while charity.
Please help me raise money by donating at the hyperlink below:
http://www.justgiving.com/ChrisMurphyEdinburghMarathon2010
Your support is very much appreciated.
Chris
Today we’ve launched our new report, The Overlooked Casualties of
Conflict. The report is an in-depth study of all the challenges
experienced by children who have a parent in the Armed Forces. Over the
last 20 years we’ve seen service children experience the repercussions
of the Falklands War, so we commissioned this report to share our
knowledge as we predict we are sitting on a ticking timebomb of problems
for children whose parents have served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan.
The full version of the report can be downloaded here.
The press release accompanying the report can be downloaded here.
Today we met with the Under Secretary of State for Defence and Minister
for Veterans, Kevan Jones MP. We had a very interesting discussion about
the needs of service children and what initiatives are currently
underway which can be supported further. We look forward to seeing the
Government lead developments in this respect.
At the end of May we took part in the National Family Week initiative and held a Family Fun Day at Portsmouth Football Club. The day saw an inflatable five-a-side football pitch and speed tunnel provided by the Football Foundation, and the Army put volunteers to the test with a challenging inflatable assault course. For animal lovers, ‘Animal Encounters’ exhibited a range of creatures to touch and feel, and face painting, games, quizzes, fire engine and tank demonstrations, and a gigantic balloon release are just a few of the other events which took place throughout the day.
We would like to thank everyone who attended and provided support for this fantastic initiative.
Monique Bateman, our Director, met with Bob Russell – the MP for Colchester and a member of the Liberal Democrat Defence team – shortly before Parliament ended for summer recess. The meeting was arranged after the MP learnt about the charity through signing our Early Day Motion, and wanted to understand more about our work. The meeting went incredibly well, and we look forward to working with Bob Russell in the future to help alleviate the problems faced by the children of service personnel.
