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Roger Stakemire

The Frontline Walk 2024: The Western Front

Donate to Roger and help them hit their goal of £1250!

I'm taking part in the Frontline Walk: The Western Front. I'll be trekking 100km following in the footsteps of those who fought on the Somme and Passchendaele battlefields during the First World War

I'll be doing this to commemorate the sacrifices made by those who fought in WWI whilst helping to support the soldiers and veterans of today.

It will be a physically and emotionally tough challenge, but I'm doing it all for a great cause: ABF The Soldiers' Charity, the National Charity of the British Army. They support soldiers, veterans and their families when they need it most.

Please cheer me on by making a donation towards my target.

Please Help Me
Reach My Goal

Raised

£2,388 + £500.68 GiftAid

My Goal

£1,250

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My Updates

Training update.

With a little under a month left before the event I feel that my training is getting me in good shape for the event, I walked a total of 28 Km on Fri 6 Sep, 6km into work and a lengthy 22 Km home afterwards. Admittedly the last 1 - 2km on the way home felt like walking through treacle! I feel that my pace might be a bit quicker than we'll be walking on the event, I completed the 22km in just over 3hrs and 30 mins, around 1 Km in 10 mins, it looks and feels like a quick walk!  

My recovery is improving too, the aches that I have after finishing the training walks are almost all gone by the next morning, although I'm struggling with some tendonitis in my left foot that can feel painful.  

I'm over the moon with the latest fundraising, I'm now sat in 7th on £1660, and I still have plenty of time to surpass the £2k target for my fundraising. A big thank you to all those who have sponsored me so far, I'm once again blown away by the generosity people have shown, especially so close to my fundraising for the RBL in Jan 24.  

A good fundraising weekend!

With the deadline of 31 Jul 24 fast approaching I realised that I needed to up my game in fundraising and raise awareness of my participation on the Frontline walk 2024. I posted links to my page on Facebook and LinkedIn and was blown away by the response from my very generous friends, I managed to raise over £400 in just over 24 hours. I am so grateful to all of those who sponsored me and I'm so happy to report that I'm over the initial £700 target and well on my way to the £1250! My friend at work, Mitch has also agreed to donate the full £120 winnings from the work sweepstake to this cause as well, so, sometime this week I'll be close to £900. Thank you all so much! 

Two of my generous friends also informed me of relatives who are buried or listed on memorials in the region we'll be walking over. My friend Tony's Great Grandfather, Percy Clarke was serving with the 12th Bn The Yorkshire Regt when he was killed on 9 Apr 17 and is buried in Tilloy British Cemetery near Arras. He was 25 years old and was married to Violet. 

Another friend Glenn, has two relatives commemorated in France and Belgium. Great Uncle Charles Ridgley was serving with the Royal Artillery when he was killed on 21 Mar 1918 and is  listed on the Pozieres memorial to the missing, Charles was 35 years old and was also married. Another of Glenn's relatives, Alfred John Chilton, was serving with King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry at his time of death, 2 Dec 1917. Alfred is buried in Poelcapelle British Cemetery. I'm fairly sure that we will be visiting that cemetery on the walk and plan to pay my respects to Alfred. 

Thanks for taking the time to read my update. 

Euro 24 windfall bonus!!

Good Morning, 

As an avid football fan, I have spent a large proportion of my life following my team Tottenham Hotspur FC up and down the country and into Europe, through good times and bad. Being a Spurs fan, these trips have been much more bad times than good! Sadly the same applies to my support of England, far too many "oh so nears" and heroic failure over the years. This summers tournament, whilst It's been successful on the pitch, the football has ultimately left me feeling that England have been very fortunate. 

Anyway, back to the blog and why I'm posting about football on here. I took part in the work sweepstake which would have seen the prize money of £120 being split between £60 to the individual and £60 to a charity of the winners choice. My colleague Mitch drew Spain and kindly offered to sponsor me the £60 should Spain emerge champions. I drew Holland, so for approximately 18 mins last night I was guaranteed £60 for my walk over the battlefields. obviously I was over the moon England won, so winning the sweepstake wasn't meant to be! It turns out that the gentleman, Glenn who I work with and who drew England in the sweepstake has now agreed to sponsor me the £60 charity stake towards my page. I'm now pleased to be able to say that the ABF and my charity fundraising is benefiting from the work Sweepstake! 

Here's to a great game of football on Sunday, hopefully England finally winning a trophy in my lifetime, but a further £60 closer to my target. Is Football coming home?

When should I start seriously training for the event?

It's now over five months since I signed up for the challenge and have now started to think how I can go about raising the funds prior to the first deadline of Jul. I plan to post on my social media accounts (Facebook and X) in the hope of earning further sponsorship. What I do know is that I need to raise £500 before the Jul deadline, further sponsorship would be greatly appreciated!

But, when would be the best time to start seriously training? I was thinking maybe two months before and initially focus on steadily increasing my daily walking totals, (I currently walk approximately 12km in my day to day activities) combined with longer weekend walks with our dogs, Hugo and Harry. I work approximately 4 miles from home, I plan to walk to and from work and steadily increase the longer weekend walks. Culminating in three days of similar distances approximately two weeks before the event. That should be ok shouldn't it? A recent 9-10 mile well-being walk through work made me realise I will most definitely need to train for the event!

The remembrance aspect of why I'm doing this challenge is never too far away. On a ski trip to Samoens in Jan I noticed the village war memorial. Samoens is still a small village now, I envisage that it would have been a very small village at the end of WW1. On the memorial are the names of those who died what drew my attention was the memorial listed five individuals who's surname was Dechavassine, four Simonds, three Delesmillieres. Without further research I am unable to say whether they were brothers, cousins or were unrelated, but the impact of the WW1 had on that and all communities throughout Europe is incalculable.  

I've registered!

Having heard of the walk via a podcast 'Tales From the Battlefield' hosted by Terry Whenham I decided that 2024 will be my first walk in support of the ABF. I'm an Army Veteran who served a full career of 26 years and I'm aware of the magnificent work that the ABF carry out in support of the Army Veteran community. I consider myself fortunate to have left after 26 years, still fit and healthy and able to consider taking on such challenges, some friends I served with were not so lucky. 

I have a big interest in military history and I have visited most of the iconic sites on the Western Front battlefields either with a guided tour, battlefield studies whilst serving and also on my own when I visit on my motorbike, Ruby. However, I firmly believe that walking the terrain gives you a completely different view to absorb what happened in those fields all those years ago. 

I've also just completed the RBL run 50 miles in January, which didn't need much training, however this is something that I will need to start training for and I plan to try and prepare as much as possible in the lead up to the event. However, being a former soldier, I can also envisage not doing enough training and having to grit my teeth and keep plodding on! :D On my last trip to the battlefields I went to the French memorial at Notre Dame De Lorette even Ruby found getting up the hill challenging!   

I'm looking forward to this challenge and meeting as many of my fellow walkers during the event. 

Thank you to my Sponsors

£208

Chris Walker

Good luck mate.

£124.80

Roger Stakemire

A very kind donation from my friend Mitch who won the DITG TDA Euro 24 sweepstake after he had the good fortune to draw Spain!

£106.25

Roger Stakemire

£104

Susan Laura Stakemire

Hey, Roger. Proud of little brother. Good luck.

£104

Roger Stakemire

Two £50 donations from two very good friends from Childhood, Rob Kearney and Bill Mitchell. Thanks Boys, I really appreciate your support.

£100

Robert Adams

Good luck, Roger!

£60

Paul Hussein

Good luck Roger. Up the Spurs

£52

Robert Bright

Cheers Roge ;)

£52

Walters Family

Good luck baldrick

£52

Lindsy Ellis

£52

3 Mi Bn Wos And Sgt's Mess

A kind donation from the WOs and Sgt's Mess 3 MI Bn.

£51.25

Roger Stakemire

A kind donation from a friend from the village.

£50

Inzpire Ltd

Good luck Roger!

£50

Garrett Tozier

Great work Roge! - Garrett & Whitney Tozier

£50

Melvin Dhorasoo

Such a great cause - Proud of you Rog

£50

Darren Daley

Good on you Rog, fantastic cause 💪

£50

Ash Goane

Looks like an awesome experience. Cant wait to see your pics. Good luck Roge

£41.60

Rishi Luchmun

Well done for doing this Roger

£31.20

Beaver

Great effort Stonkenine

£31.20

Ian Wallace

Good luck Roger & hope everything goes well 👍🏻

£31.20

Antony Fyson

Good luck Roge and enjoy the scenery. What a great cause.

£31.20

Henry & Harry Brigham

£30

Denise Croft

£30

Ben Rider

£30

Rb

Walk Roge walk

£26.50

Roger Stakemire

This was a very kind donation from a good friend Alan Daley who I know from watching Tottenham! Thanks Al 👍

£25.63

Roger Stakemire

A kind donation from a work colleague, Mr Andrew Mitchell.

£25

Phil

Brilliant effort for a very worthy cause Roge! Well done! Proud of you mate!

£21

Mick

Well done mate, keep it going 👍🏻

£20.80

Steve Foster

Keep going Roger

£20.80

Digger

Hi Roger well old son magnificent effort take care see you at the lane kr mick the digger

£20.80

Ben Clift

Brilliant thing to do mate and all the best

£20.80

Steve O

Good luck Rog!

£20.80

Galvin Dhorasoo

Good luck Roge

£20.80

Roger Stakemire

A kind donation my Friend's Mum, Elaine Clift. Thank you so much Elaine x

£20.80

Jennie

£20.80

Roger Stakemire

This was a kind donations from Bev and Dave Kelly, thank you so much!

£20.80

Neil Morris

All the best mate

£20.80

Peter Jordan

£20.80

Steven Willis

Great cause, best of luck Roger!

£20.80

Karen

Good luck Rog

£20.80

Chris Cutler Financial Planning

Good luck Roger Look forward to hearing about it when you return.

£20.80

Scott White

£20.80

Christian Hollis

Good luck mate. Enjoy the stomp. COYH

£20.50

Demelza Potter

£20

Greg Metcalfe

£20

Paul Curson

£20

Kim Clark

£20

Jamie Abbott

£20

Andy Norris

Good luck Roger. Best wishes!

£20

Charlotte Saunders

Good luck

£15.60

Alan

Good luck and great cause!

£15.60

Roger Stakemire

We finished second in the Admiral pub, Clifton, Beds pub quiz! Thank you to my team mates, Girlfriend Lindsy, Alan, Hannah and Sarah xx

£15

Malc, Karen & Cobi Gilroy

Good luck Roge!

£10.40

Chris Horton

Good luck 👍

£10.40

Susan Laura Stakemire

Good luck Roger. Take care. Ellen mcguckin.

£10.40

Toni Thorpe

What a fantastic cause you will smash it!!!! Xx

£10.40

Lisa &andy

Good luck Roger x

£10.40

Luke Danckert

Great stuff Rog

£10.40

Anonymous

£10.40

Roger Stakemire

A kind donation from a friend at work, Andy Prince. Thanks Andy!

£10.40

Chloe Reid

Good luck!

£10.40

Jacqueline

Good Luck!

£10.40

Roger Stakemire

A kind donation from James Elfleet. Thanks James. 👍

£10.40

Glenn Ridgeley

A kind of from a work colleague who's relative is buried in Poelcappele CWGC that I visited whilst on the walk. Thanks Glenn

£10.25

Ster

Wishing you well for your fundraising!

£10

Danny Franklin-stoughton

Great Cause. Good Luck Roger!!! All the best.

£10

Disco Dave

Great cause, I wish I could give more! Best of luck Rog!

£10

David Hewson (inzpire Msn)

Good Luck Roger

£10

Bob Chevli

£10

Maisy Duncan

£10

Wayne Farrier

Good luck buddy

£5.20

Ellie Symonds

Best of luck!

£5.20

Madeleine

Keep going!

£5.20

Lisa Yexley

£5.20

Andy Waghorn

£5.20

Tom Wise

£5

Killa

YIDS

£2.60

Kate Watkins

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