To start the story, I like to be able to help as many people as I can by supporting them and fundraising. However, I have a problem with my balance and must use a power chair. I can't run a marathon or jump out of a plane to do a parachute jump my Doctor won't let me! 

 My challenge is called  “100 or more * in less than 100 hour’s!”       *Royal British Legion branches.

I chose 100 branches because it's the centenary of the Royal British Legion this year.

I want to help the Royal British Legion as they have helped me so much in the past. I started in 2008 by selling poppies. My role steadily increased so that in 2016 I took over the post of a Poppy Appeal Organiser (P.A.O.). This means that I have to order poppies in June (this does mean that my house is full to the brim from June to late October), recruit volunteers to sell the poppies, visit schools, organise poppies to be knitted and the list goes on and on. The Covid -19 pandemic has meant that The Poppy Appeal did not raise the amount of money we usually do!

My way of helping is to organise a railway run because I enjoy rail travel and the Royal British Legion has many and varied projects around the U.K. By using my love of going on railway journeys and visiting different places and people, I can hopefully raise funds for the Royal British Legion (Poppy Appeal).

A little bit about me, I am 82 years old, and I was born in Birmingham and moved to Bristol in 1940. I lived and worked in Bristol until 1958.
 In 1958 I (like many of the young men my age) entered National service. I chose to become a part of the Royal Army Service Corps. Now known as the Royal Logistics Corps. I became an ambulance driver. 130 Coy RASC (MOTAMB). The last ambulance company in the British Army. I served my time at Catterick Barracks in Bielefeld, Germany 1BR Corps. After National Service I found it difficult to settle so I re-joined in 1964 as a regular.
 I moved to Hampshire and started working for the Royal Automobile Club (R.A.C.) and my experience’s in the Army helped me considerably in getting this job.
 In the 1980’s I had a career change and became an electronic engineer working for the Home Office.

Unfortunately, in 1990 I caught a virus from a dirty swimming pool. This affected my balance and I became permanently dizzy, this was also exacerbated by my partial  loss of hearing from my time in the army.  This slowly became so bad that now, I have to use either my wheelchair or my power chair outside. As a consequence of this I was medically retired, and I started to do charity work.

 As a veteran the Royal  British Legion has helped me considerably! I have had special ramps put into my home, and a automatic front door and some french  windows installed so I can go into the garden. I have also had some wonderful hearing aids which link to my mobile phone and a T.V. streamer that enables me to hear the television without deafening my wife! 

So, how is this challenge going to work?

I will be traveling by train, and I will go to various town’s and cities where there is a branch of the Royal British Legion.

The branch/es will send a representee to the station. They  will sign a certificate, have a photo taken and then it's off to the next stop! 

On average each visit will be 30 minutes.

The counties I will be visiting are:

• Hampshire
• Devon
• Dorset
• Somerset
• Wiltshire
• Gloucestershire
• Worcestershire
• Warwickshire
• London

When will I be doing this?                                                                       

1st July - 7th July 2021

How do I get the 100 hour’s?

I will be visiting branches from 08:00 to 20:00 for 6 days =72 hours!

Thank you very much for your donation. It really means a lot to me and to The Royal British Legion (Poppy Appeal).

 Thank you,

 Mike Homer

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