The English are
invading!
But they’re armed only with a cheque
Basra
 They were in Basra and Al Amarah for five and a half months before returning home just in time for Christmas.
But how did an English-based regiment come to raise money for CHAS? Because a few of the lads are from north of the border.
Squadron Sergeant Major Ginge (Alexander) Gardiner explained, “I’m from Gairlochhead and Major Falconer is from Kinlochleven.
“We’d heard about the campaign to build Robin House and when we told the other guys, they couldn’t believe there was only one children’s hospice for the whole of Scotland.
“There wasn’t really any way you could spend money in the desert so we started raising money for CHAS.
“Normally in the forces you get your hair cut for free, but we would charge the troops a voluntary fee and the money would go to CHAS.
“We also had camel races and pub quizzes where we again charged the soldiers.
“And we were sponsored to row the equivalent of the distance from Al Amarah to Ipswich and back on rowing machines — about 5600 miles!”
But it wasn’t just the soldiers who were generous.
When the people of Ipswich heard what their local squadron was doing, they dug deep, donating another £200 to our campaign.
The soldiers wanted to deliver the cheque to the children of Rachel House themselves.
So on Thursday they made the trip in three choppers, from Wattisham to Fife Airport in Glenrothes, where Stephen Wight (23), from Whitburn, Barry Farrell (14), from Dunfermline, and Graeme Jackson (15), from Carluke, were waiting by the runway.
The guys from 654 Squadron AAC impressed the boys with an awe-inspiring flyover before landing.
They then showed Stephen, Barry and Graeme round their helicopters, with the boys capturing events from the memorable day on video.
Gillian Stewart from Rachel House was there and was delighted at the efforts of the AAC.
Interested
She said, “It’s fantastic that they’ve raised this money. Surely there must have been other things on their mind when they were out in Iraq.
“It’s not only great that they raised the money, but that they wanted to come up with the cheque.
“And it’s really worked out perfect with us having the three boys staying at Rachel House just now, because they’re really interested in helicopters.
“They’re also doing a project with the clown doctors, who come in once a week, so each of the boys are filming it for a training video for the doctors.” |
You can e-mail us at:
hospice@sundaypost.com
|
Stephen, Barry and Graeme from Rachel House
receive 654 Squadron’s cheque.
