3 weeks today

Some of you may recall the sad story of the badly injured Royal Marine, Ben McBean, who was on the same flight back from Afghanistan as Prince Harry, and who ended up losing an arm and a leg. Due to the work of Headley Court (the main beneficary so far of money from Help for Heroes) - and his great determination - he took part in the London Marathon last weekend and completed it. An article (by the great supporter of Help for Heroes, The Sun Paper) is at: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/article2397415.ece

24th May is "D" Day when we assemble in Portsmouth, so not much time for training or raising money to go. As this ride is for the benefit of those wounded soldiers, like Ben, I am having a last minute push for additional sponsorship. If you have not kindly sponsored me so far, please do on www.justgiving.com/nigelmurray - and if you have sponsored me, and know anyone who fits into the following categories, please encourage them to give to this very worthwhile cause:

- they want to/ought to support this very worthwhile charity
- they know me and believe that my cycling 350 miles in 5 days is enough of a challenge to warrant parting with cash
- they find the photo of me in Lycra (below) amusing or indeed will happily pay to not see any more
- they have been meaning to sponsor, but have not managed it yet

I found out by reading the recently published Help for Heroes Annual Report that 98% of the money given to Help for Heroes actually goes towards providing facilities for the wounded. I am told this is the most from any UK charity and has been made possible by admin costs and salaries being found from the sale of Help for Heroes merchandise. So - your sponsorship will go to where you want it to go.

Thank you.

Nigel