Sixty-mile Somme fundraiser 'helps veterans feel they are not forgotten' as organisers aim for £10,000 haul
The Veterans’ Commissioner has said that the response to a 60-mile series of treks around Northern Ireland has been “humbling”.
David Johnstone said the event helped ensure veterans did not feel “forgotten”.
He embarked on a six-day series of treks between war memorials last week to raise money for the Somme Association in Newtownards ahead of the 110th Somme anniversary, as well as for the Air Ambulance.
He was joined by his employees Alan Murphy and Rachael Harger, and had called on veterans to join them on the walks.
Averaging about 10 miles per day, they covered all six counties:
Cullybackey to Broughshane; Annalong to Kilkeel; Armagh to Portadown; Brookeborough to Enniskillen; Dungannon to Cookstown; and Castlerock to Portstewart.
How did Mr Johnstone, a 56-year-old Iraq veteran and former Irish League defender, cope with the walk?
"I’m a little bit stiff, the hips were a little bit sore, but my feet are grand,” he told the News Letter.
"It was excellent – it exceeeded expectations by far, in terms of everything, the whole event.
"When you plan an event like this, you’re never quite sure how it’s going to go – will we get engagement from the veterans’ community?
"But every day we were joined by between 20 and 30 local veterans.
"It’s really, really good to walk alongside them for 10 miles, hearing stories – particularly from those who had relatives who were involved in the Somme.
"It really became a veterans’ community event.”
In all, there would have been about 150 of so veterans joining them on legs of the walk, some into their 80s; for example, two ex-Greenfinches in their late 70s walked the whole Brookeborough-to-Enniskillen leg of about 12 miles.
The total number of participants rises to about 200 when you include all the people helping out afterwards by providing refereshments.
It “makes them feel they’re not forgotten,” said Mr Johnstone, adding it was “humbling” to see the number of veterans coming together to take part.
He was also joined on legs of the walk by politicians from the UUP, DUP and TUV.
Special mention went to Glenn Barr of the UUP who walked the full Annalong to Kilkeel leg, Matt Armstrong and Matthew Warwick of the TUV, who walked the Cullybackey to Broughshane route, and Paul Robinson of the DUP who walked Brookeborough to Enniskillen.
Meanwhile Johnny Buckley and Carla Lockhart of the DUP walked about five miles each.
The amount raised so far is about £6,500, of which about £3,500 was raised via bucket collections on the route.
Mr Johnstone said they are hoping this will rise to £10,000 by the time of July 1 – the anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme.
The money will be split equally between the Somme Association in Newtownards and the Air Ambulance NI.
Mr Johnstone plans to hand over a cheque in person at the Somme in France on July 1.
“What I said at almost every war memorial is that, particularly at the Somme but in the First World War generally, men from various Irish regiments served,” he said.
"They had differing political viewpoints, different religions, but they all stood shoulder to shoulder.
"When the whistle went, over they went – many to their deaths.
"Therefore the Somme Association does such an important job honouring all of those.”
He also thanked Thompson Travel, Portadown, for supplying t-shirts for all the participants.
Further donations can be made here: www.paypal.com/gb/fundraiser/charity/5826916