Legion members will walk nearly 500 miles for Poppy Appeal

Tam Miller, a Colour Sergeant in the Scots Guards, and Dave Whitehead, a former medic in the Army Medical Corps, plan to walk 234 miles each, between October 1 and November 7, to raise funds for the Aldridge Royal British Legion branch.

C Sgt Miller, 52, and Mr Whitehead, 48, have so far raised more than £2,000 towards their target.

C Sgt Miller said: "The target is £3,000 but it would be great to go over that.

"Sometimes we walk alone but when we can we walk together.

"I've got arthritis in my knees and feet but overall we're doing alright, we're managing.

"We know that all charities are struggling at the moment because of Covid-19 and Aldridge usually raises about £40,000 a year from the Poppy Appeal but a lot of events have been called off so we wanted to come up with an idea that is Covid-friendly.

"We wanted to give back to the community and make sure others are looked after."

Mr Whitehead added: "I'm really proud of it. I thought when we set the target we wouldn't get near it, but it's getting there.

"We're always trying to look at ways to get more money to the Royal British Legion.

"I joined in 2008 when I had just got back from Iraq. It was full of older members and I thought if we didn't do something the branch might fold so we got some younger ones in to make sure the branch survived."

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