Military veterans will step in line to remember fallen comrades when they take part in a walk from Crich Stand to Derby this weekend.
Three former soldiers will make up a walking party of five who will undertake the journey on Saturday, June 22, ahead of Armed Forces Day, which takes place a week later.
The walk will take them from the Stand, which was erected in 1923 to remember the 11,409 members of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) Regiment who died in the First World War to the Mickleover Royal British Legion branch in Western Road.
Among the walkers is Bruce Spencer, who served with the Sherwood Foresters as part of a 38-year career in the army, which saw him serve in Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia as well as military attache in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Alongside him will be Simon Briggs, a former Army Royal Signals soldier, and Simon McCarthy, a former Royal Marine who saw service in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands.
The remaining two people in the walking party will be Eleanor Bygrave, who grew up in a military family and works for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Howard Martin, who is a member of the RBL.
The walk was organised by Bruce, who is now head of strategy for Swadlincote-based rail depot maintenance firm MTMS and wanted to undertake the walk to mark Armed Forces Day and also to raise funds for the RBL.
Bruce said: “We saw during the commemorations for D-Day a couple of weeks ago how much respect and gratitude there is for members of the British military and as veterans ourselves we wanted to pay our own respects to everyone we have served alongside, both in person and in spirit.
“Crich Stand has huge significance for former servicemen and women across Derbyshire and so it makes perfect sense for us to start our walk there before heading into Derby later in the day.
“Unlike those we remember every year, sadly age has wearied us, but we are all ready to take on this walk and will be looking forward to the welcome that will be waiting for us when we arrive at Ypres Lodge.”
Among those who will be waiting for the walking party when they arrive will be Malcolm Prentice, group chairman of MTMS, who will make a donation to the RBL on behalf of the company.
MTMS offers a wide range of services to rail operators, including maintaining and servicing key depot equipment such as carriage-wash machines and fuelling systems.
It also supplies specialist chemicals, including graffiti remover and its GraffStop system, a polymer coating which, when applied, enables subsequent graffiti to simply be washed off.
