Army commander cycling for hero troops

The man in charge of the army in Edinburgh is to take part in a fundraising bike ride to raise cash for injured troops.

Colonel Simon Vandeleur will be part of a group cycling 350-miles between Brussels and Arnhem in aid of the Help for Heroes charity, the Scotsman reports.

The 53-year-old and the rest of the gang will stop off at Joe's Bridge in northern Belgium – which was defended in the Second World War by his great uncle, Brigadier John Ormsby Evelyn 'Joe' Vandeleur.

And his great uncle has since been immortalised by a character played by Michael Caine in the film A Bridge Too Far.

Of his fundraising plans, Colonel Vandeleur explained: "I'm going to leave the army next year and I think it's a way of being able to put something back into the system."

Elgin Rotary Club recently organised a 4.6-mile long human chain, wherein participants held hands with one another, to generate cash for Help for Heroes.

Posted by Samantha Thompson