Wounded war veterans inspired supporters at a girls’ school when they took a break from their 1,000 mile charity walk across the UK.
Their ambitious Walk of Britain 2015 expedition paused at Haberdashers’ Monmouth School for Girls on Friday, where the team gave a humbling presentation following musical performances from the pupils.
The six veterans, four British and two American, are representing Walking with the Wounded which fundraises for the re-education and training of the nation’s injured servicemen and women.
Each team member, Alec Robotham, Matt Fisher, Scott Ransley, Stewart Hill, Kirstie Ennis and Andrew Bement, talked to pupils and guests about how they had been injured in the line of duty, and how the charity helps ex-servicemen.
Matt, who was shot in the foot, chose to have his leg amputated from the knee down to regain functionality after a year of limited movement.
He told people: “It’s very important for us to engage with everyone we see and make them understand what the charity does.
“If a veteran has a job and is standing on his own two feet, he has a better chance of integrating into society.
“It’s also about helping people who are socially injured; people who have come off the rails as a result of their service.
“There is a shocking amount of homeless veterans and we hope that by engaging with them we can steer them in the right direction and help them find a job to put them on the straight and narrow.
“We focus everything towards getting veterans to do thing for themselves and become self-reliant – that’s the ethos of the charity.”
Matt, who walked the New York City Marathon six months after his amputation, belonged to the Army’s 3 Rifles regiment.
He was “over the moon” to be made part of the Walk of Britain team.
“I feel like I have been handed a new lease of life that will give me the drive to take my civilian life to the next level,” he said.
“This adventure has given me a great sense of pride and belonging and brought back a bit of the excitement I have been missing.”
The mammoth hike, which began in Scotland on August 22 and is set to finish at Buckingham Palace on November 1, is just one of many fundraising expeditions organised by Walking with the Wounded.
The team had covered around 590 miles in total when they reached Monmouth from Hereford on Friday.
Mrs Caroline Pascoe, Headmistress of HMSG and Dr Andrew Daniel, Headmaster of Monmouth School, were thrilled to present the inspirational team with a cheque for £400 from the Schools and members of staff hosted each walker overnight.
Deputy Mayor, Terry Christopher, also presented the veterans with prints of Monmouth’s Great Castle House as a token of appreciation and support.
The community gathered at Monmouth Castle early on Saturday morning to cheer the team as they left for Chepstow.
