Military charity invites motorcyclists to ride cross-county for blind veterans

Military charity Blind Veterans UK is inviting motorcyclists to join their annual Ride For Life Beyond Sight Loss charity motorcycle ride.

The ride, held on Saturday 13 August 2016, begins at the Fire Training College at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, Gloucestershire, and will carry on via Loomies Café in Hampshire, down to the Blind Veterans UK training and rehabilitation centre in Brighton.

Registration is £15 per person and includes a commemorative ride badge. Riders can also join the route at Loomies Café.

Rachel Chitty, regional fundraiser for Blind Veterans UK, says, “The ride is always a great day and everyone loves getting to our centre and meeting the veterans we support.

“You can join us at the Training College on Friday 12 August for dinner and an overnight stay, including breakfast, so you are fresh for the 9am start.”

Last year, more than 100 bikers raised over £2,500 for the charity.

Dianne Heydon, 54, and a biker from Nottinghamshire, completed the ride last year. She said:

“We spent the evening at the centre drinking, socialising and chatting with a number of the veterans and they had some wonderful tales to tell. Not to mention the odd saucy joke!

“To anyone with a motor bike out there, Ride for Life Beyond Sight Loss is an annual event open to all riders and the proceeds go to a great cause.”

To find out further information and sign up contact Rachel Chitty on 01273 391455 or [email protected].

Blind Veterans UK was founded in 1915 and the charity’s initial purpose was to help and support soldiers blinded in the First World War. But the organisation has gone on to support more than 35,000 blind veterans and their families, spanning the Second World War to recent conflicts including Iraq and Afghanistan.

For more than a century, the charity has been providing vital free training, rehabilitation, equipment and emotional support to blind and vision-impaired veterans no matter when they served or how they lost their sight.

Visit blindveterans.org.uk/support to learn more about the volunteering with the charity and how you can support its vital work today.