Thanks for taking the time to visit this JustGiving page.  This page has been created to raise money for the Matthew Bacon Bursary which gives deserving young people in the Army Cadet Force betwen the ages of 16 and 18 the opportunity to participate in courses run by the Outward Bound Trust.  The Trust runs developmental courses which ,"..unlock the potential in young people through discovery and adventure in the wild."  These courses are of a standard without parallel, and the young people selected to attend them with this bursary win an opportunity that would not otherwise be available to them.  

The Bursary was set up to celebrate the life of Major Matthew Bacon who was tragically killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005.  As a youngster, Matthew was an outdoor boy, someone who could never sit still and who always had to be building something, leading someone or challenging himself.  These interests grew as he got older and relaxation to him meant scuba diving, skydiving, snow boarding or mountaineering; orienteering, boxing or playing rugby or football.  And when he wasn't somewhere exotic pushing his limits he was studying for an Open University degree in Law.  Life to Matthew was for living, and he was determined to grip it, squeeze it and savour every last drop of it. 

In memory of Matthew a group of his former colleagues and friends will attempt the Welsh 3000s Challenge this summer to raise money for his bursary.  This is a traverse on foot of all the mountains in Wales over 3000': it is about 30 miles long, takes in some 13000' of ascent and must be completed in under 24 hours.  For those of us who knew Matthew, it feels like a fitting tribute.  And doing it in aid of his bursary will help others, who wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity, to explore their limits as he loved to do.         

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