Epic carriage drive aims to raise £1m for soldiers

An ambitious carriage driving challenge has been launched to raise £1million for injured British forces personnel.

In June, a team of 10 wounded servicemen and women will try to drive a horse-drawn replica World War I Red Cross ambulance 1,000 miles non-stop from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

Jackie El Tawil, a paramedic from Wiltshire, will lead the Horses Help Heroes mission.

“The Land’s End to John O’Groats journey has been done a few times on horses,” she said. “I wanted to do something unique, hence the non-stop idea.

“We’re hoping to do it in 10 days, at 100 miles a day. We’re going to use five or six pairs of horses in a relay.”

The money raised will provide direct financial support for injured ex-service people and their families.

The chairman of Horses Help Heroes, who wished to remain anonymous, says: “We appreciate that a million pounds is a very ambitious target, but we’re going to work bloody hard to try to achieve it.”

The replica ambulance will be appearing at events before June, including Olympia.

For more information and to sponsor the team, go to www.horseshelpheroes.org.uk or

call 01285 641305.

This article was first published in the current issue of Horse & Hound, 16 December 2010

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