A team of Metropolitan Police officers who responded to the 2017 London terrorist attacks will be taking part in a 55-mile walk from Westminster to Brighton to raise funds for the Flint House Police Rehabilitation Centre.
They will start the walk on the evening of 29 September and aim to finish within 24 hours.
Two of the officers involved in the walk are Sgt Darren Laurie and PC Keith Malda, who recently received Royal Humane Society awards for their extraordinary bravery and lifesaving acts at both the Westminster Bridge and London Bridge attacks. Also on the walk are two other officers who were present at the incidents, PC Mick Gibson and PC Darren Sanders.
In June of this year, Darren, Darren and Mick took part in a ‘Run To Remember’ around the capital, on the fourth anniversary of the London Bridge attack. They aimed to raise awareness of the trauma and mental health issues suffered by emergency services staff who responded to the terrorist incidents.
Darren Laurie said: “That wasn’t going to be a one-off for us, so this time we’re going to walk from London to Brighton, and as well as raising awareness we also wanted to raise money for Flint House Rehabilitation Centre. They’re so good at helping people with not just physical injuries but also mental health issues.
“On a personal note, I've been to Flint House twice, where they’ve helped me massively following an operation I had after a motorcycle crash. I was there for physiotherapy but I became aware of the work they were doing for mental health.
“We wanted to raise money for a place that does such good work and has the tools and knowledge to help officers. I know how great they are, so we want to support them in any way we can.
"The four of us are very conscious that people only have so much to give and we don’t want to dilute that pool of money, so we chose Flint House because of the good work that they do already in looking after officer’s welfare.”
The four officers have also been asked to become Flint House Ambassadors.
Darren said: “We all view that as an honour and are proud to accept that role.”
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