Team Discovery Pull
simply click here
At 07.30 on 16th September 10 men commenced to walk 1.21 Kms from the Garrsion Officers
Mess in Episkopi to HQ British Forces Cyprus. The route they took would mean they would have
a climb of nearly thirty meters. They decided to do this walk to raise money for SSAFA. Although
this in itself doesn’t appear to be much of a challenge, they decided to make the walk a bit tougher
by pulling the Commander, British Forces’ 3.2 ton Land Rover Discovery along with them!
The idea for the challenge came to Cpl Darren Shaw who is CBF’s personal driver, (well he was
the only one who had access to the Discovery). He managed to get a team together and the
training started in August. They very soon realised this was going to be a demanding challenge
in which every single footstep need maximum effort from the whole team.
They were escorted by a SBA Police motorcycle outrider and bringing up the rear was a Military
Police vehicle. They also had a Safety Man/Coach, WO Alex McGregor, who called out the step and
gave encouragement at the points that were really tough. He stood in at the last minute as Sgt Les Bishop was unable to attend.
Twenty one minutes after they set off, the team and the Discovery arrived at HQ BFC. There to meet them was AVM Graham
Stacey, Commander British Forces. AVM Stacey thanked them for their efforts in raising money for SSAFA on behalf of his wife
Dr Maria Stuttaford who was still at the main gate with her SSAFA bucket encouraging drivers to part with some money. He
reminded the team that all the money they raised would stay on the island to help with local projects and case work.
By the end of the day the total raised was €1,600, but its not too late to bring that total to a round €2,000,
SSAFA Cyprus would like to thank CBF for the loan of his vehicle and to everyone who took part or donated money.
The team were:
Darren Shaw, Dene Bishop, Craig Morton, Mark Blackham, Dean Allen, Alex Walker, Wayne Allen, David Burrows,
Andros Karasavvas, George Bromley, James Box.
To read the full story of the event from its inception written by Darren Shaw, including an update
on the total amount raised so far - click here