Writing poetry for heroes & walking for cancer

I left Wales at the tender age of 17 to join the RAF and after a 23 year career I finally settled on the Greek island of Crete. The plight of many military veterans after injury in conflicts is well known and I wanted to get involved and raise money for charities that helped our veterans.

I chose one of the most well known, 'Help for Heroes' and over three years raised 10,000 euros doing quiz nights for fellow ex-pats at a local taverna.

I also wrote a charity poetry book after a poem of mine for Lee Rigby went viral on social media being shared over a million times.

When my sister was diagnosed with cancer I decide to raise money for cancer charities and I organised a long distance walk of 60km in 12 hours from the south to the north Cretan coast.

This was so successful that the next year I organised a 100km walk in 24 hours that followed the retreat of the Allied soldiers on Crete in 1941. This raised money for military and cancer charities, both locally and back in the UK. I could not have been prouder when the team finished, weary yet jubilant.