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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As fundraising efforts go, few are likely to be more poignant and apt than a new attempt being made by a former army serviceman, who has announced that he has written his memoirs of his time in the military to raise money for injured personnel. <\/p>\n
David James, from Dorchester, is a former British Army colonel and has decided to publish the letters he sent home between 2006 and 2007 when he was stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports the Dorset Echo.<\/p>\n
Mr James served in the DRC as the chief of staff in a UN military division in what was a landmark year for the nation, in which it managed to hold its first general election for more than 50 years. It was also going through a transition at the time and recovering from a war that had seen three million lives lost. <\/p>\n
Now Mr James, who retired in 2013 after 30 years in the military, has decided that the letters he sent home from the country could be used in order to raise money for Help for Heroes. <\/p>\n
He told the Dorset Echo: “The Congo was going through a fascinating time in its history and very few people from Britain had the opportunity to serve over there.<\/p>\n
“I used to send about 20 letters home a week and some of my friends and family said I should publish them as they were interesting, so I did."<\/p>\n
At the initial launch event for the book in Dorset, some £240 was raised for the charity, and it is hoped that more will be made for the service over the course of the next year. <\/p>\n
Elsewhere, a musician from Redgrave has been drafted in to perform on a charity single, which will also raise money for Help for Heroes, it has been reported by the Bury Free Press. <\/p>\n
James Ready, 21, lead guitarist of band Walkway, has played on the single I Wonder Where He is Now by Gary Chilton, formerly of The Soldiers. The newspaper reports that the single was officially launched on Monday (December 1st) and will raise funds for the military charity. <\/p>\n
Mr Ready is a guitar teacher who tutors pupils in primary school and privately, and he helped to record the single at Woolpit's Monkey Puzzle studio after having been invited to be part of the song on lead guitar. <\/p>\n
He told the Bury Free Press: “The drums backing and vocals had been done as well as acoustic guitar but they wanted something to beef it up a little with some electric guitar. <\/p>\n
“I’d been given a rough recording laying down what had already been done and I listened to that and worked up what I was going to do and then took my sheet music along to the studio.”
The guitarist told the news source that he hopes the single will perform particularly well in the run up to Christmas. So far, the bookies have made it the fourth favourite to top the charts for the Christmas number one spot at 25\/1.<\/p>\n
This is not the first taste of fame for the Redgrave man, though. His band Walkway released an album in the US last year, and have previously shared a stage with a number of top bands such as The Darkness, Black Stone Cherry and Status Quo, who they will tour with again in the months to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As fundraising efforts go, few are likely to be more poignant and apt than a new attempt being made by a former army serviceman, who has announced that he has written his memoirs of his time in the military to raise money for injured personnel. David James, from Dorchester, is a former British Army colonel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"As fundraising efforts go, few are likely to be more poignant and apt than a new attempt being made by a former army serviceman, who has announced that he has ... "},"author":1,"featured_media":3711,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n