Hi All... I want to see 2020 out with one last little fundraiser to hopefully reach my final total of £23,500 raised this year. So I've decided with the help of my Daddy that I'm going to do a Santa Run in my flying suit around my local Nature Reserve where I live on Saturday the 20th December. The distance is 5km so I hope my Daddy can keep up! Please make a small donation of a few pounds if you can to help me reach my target and me help the RAF Benevolent Fund support the RAF Family when in need. Thank you and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my Just Giving page. Sadly I have had to postpone my Dunkirk Challenge due to the Covid virus until May 2021 and plan to do it on the 81st Anniversary that New Zealand fighter ace Al Deere was shot down over Belgium and escaped back to England.

However not one to give up, I have come up with a new challenge for this year in the UK. I'm going to walk in my RAF Flying Suit from the former site of RAF Manston to The Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel le Ferne near Folkstone, a distance of some 30 miles. I will set off on the 30th October and arrive on the 31st October, which is my 7th Birthday. The 31st of October is an important day as it the official end date of the Battle of Britain, with this year being the 80th anniversary the battle took place, mainly in the skies over southern England.  

Thankfully I have been able to keep a Al Deere and 54 Squadron connection to this challenge. Although Al Deere and 54 Squadron were based at RAF Hornchurch during the Battle of Britain from the beginning of July 1940 to the end of August 1940 they operated on a daily basis from RAF Manston, flying to Manston early in the morning and when possible leaving before last light to return to RAF Hornchurch. Initially they flew patrols providing protection for Allied shipping in the English Channel around the area of Dover which became know as Hellfire Corner due to the intensity of the fighting that took place. As the Luftwaffe tactics changed to heading inland over Kent to attack RAF airfields and defeat Fighter Command, 54 Squadron was tasked with intercepting the German aircraft where possible protecting the airfields. At the end of August RAF Manston had suffered eight significant attacks and it was finally decided that 54 Squadron should now carry out any further patrols from RAF Hornchurch due to the damage RAF Manston sustained.