Updated on
A group of Nottingham students have been inspired to complete a three-day challenge after meeting an Army veteran, who now works with Help for Heroes.
Nine students who are on the Uniformed Protective Services course at Vision West College, plan to complete a 34-mile trek, which will take in the 9 Edges trail in the Peak District, plus a detour to the B29 Superfortress crash memorial at Bleaklow.
Gareth Maude, aged 18 and from Mansfield, was one of the students who earlier this year met Dean Williams, who served in the Army for 27 years. Gareth said: “All of the students on our course have ambitions to work in services that help other people. When Dean came along to talk to us, it was great to hear about his career in the Army and now with Help for Heroes."
“It made us want to do something to show our support for the people who protect us, which is why we sat down and came up with this challenge. We’re going to have to walk for 6-8 hours a day in quite difficult terrain, but we wanted a challenge.”
The nine students, aged from 17-19 years old are working towards leadership careers in the Police, Fire, Prison and Ambulance Services, Army, Navy and RAF.
We want to do something to show our support for the people who protect us."
Vision College West Student
Gareth added: “We’ve all been out training. We’ll each be carrying 15-20kg of kit, so it’s going to be tough. But the response from friends, family and other students has been great – and we’ve had messages of support from mates who have already gone on to join the armed forces.”
You can follow Gareth and the other students on their challenge at https://www.instagram.com/charity_events2025/ which starts on 22 April.