Tough rugby League Legend Keith Senior joked that he was the ‘bouncer for the day’ on Saturday 12 September as he joined six wounded veterans as they walked through Leeds as part of the 1000 mile, 72 day Walk of Britain.
“It’s great to give some support and help the wounded servicemen and women,” said Keith as the team, all of whom have physical or cognitive injuries sustained in the line of duty, set out from Temple Newsam House to walk through crowds of onlookers and supporters in Leeds on Day 22 of the expedition.
The Walk Of Britain was launched to engage with local communities in mainland Britain every day, to highlight the extraordinary determination of ‘Our’ wounded personnel and to raise awareness of the work that Walking With The Wounded, (‘WWTW’) is doing across the country to support the wounded back into independence through long-term employment.
It completes on 1 November when the team walk up the mall to Buckingham Palace. Other highlights in North Yorkshire were visits to Barnard Castle, Castle Howard, Brandsby Hall and finally York Minster.
Edward Parker, Co-founder and CEO of Walking With The Wounded commented:
“The team have been amazed by the amount of public engagement the walk has created and touched by the numbers that turned out each day to support them on their journey. We were very excited to walk through Yorkshire which produced fantastic support. “
Team member Scott Ransley, who is blind in his right eye as a result of an IED blast whilst clearing an IED factory, said: “I haven’t had a challenge since leaving the Marines, so when I got the opportunity to do a thousand mile walk I knew that was what I wanted to do. I wouldn’t have done it if it was going to be easy peasy!”
The Walk Of Britain is fully funded by sponsors, with Yorkshire-based YESSS Electrical being the title partner of the expedition.
