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A group of students from Loughborough College are set to take on the daunting challenge of covering a distance the equivalent of travelling to the North Pole, to show their support for veterans living in the local area – and raise much needed funds for Help for Heroes.
Led by their course leader, Stuart Taylor, 150 Public Services students will be using rowing machines, treadmills, cross-trainers and exercise bikes in the College gym, to complete a total of 5,000km over 48 hours – with college principal Corrie Harris taking the first steps with them on Tuesday 11 February.
The challenge is the idea of Stuart, who was himself in the Coldstream Guards for seven years. As well as tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Stuart also took part in ceremonial duties such as Trooping the Colour and providing a guard for the then Queen at the Royal Palaces. He said: “I know about the great work done by Help for Heroes and thought we could take on a challenge that’s linked to our course and raises funds for a good cause at the same time.”
“We’ve got a great bunch of students, who are training for careers in the armed forces, police, fire service, ambulance service and prison service – and I know from personal experience that they are always prepared to go the extra mile, no pun intended!”
I hope I can make my family proud.”
Loughborough College Student
There are 2,768 veterans living in the Loughborough area, and 170,524 across the whole East Midlands area. A number of students have family connections to the armed forces, so they are taking on a cause that means a lot to them personally, as well as to local communities.
Simran Dhaul, is aged 18 and from Leicester and her grandad was in the army. She said: “I’m feeling excited about the challenge and hope I can make my family proud.”
Jack Moreton who is 17 and from Loughborough, who also had family in all services cannot wait to get started. He said: “They fought for us—now it’s our turn to do something for them.”
Some students will also be aiming to lift weights that are the equivalent to a World War II Churchill tank. They aim to raise £5,000, which is enough to fund a psychological wellbeing practitioner for 12 veterans.