Charity Support
John has been a supporter of Help4Heroes for many years, and has achieved incredible things while raising money for this brilliant charity.
Racing for H4H:
Bombardier Ben Parkinson of F Battery RHA has kindly agreed to allow us to feature him on this web page supporting our fundraising project.
As an ex member of 7RHA it gives me immense pride to know that the Regiment has never changed its character over many years of active service and that its soldiers are still the finest, epitomised by Ben Parkinson.
Quote Ben, “I will walk tall again”. He was blown up in Afghanistan and has made an amazing recovery with the help of all the support agencies and most importantly his indomitable courage.
JFP Strategic Planning has chartered two of the original “round the world” yachts from the Global Challenge Race. Our senior partner John, crewed in this race and thought it would be great to get as many of the original crews to compete in their boats on the Round the Island Race – for fun – and raise some money for H4H.
Help for Heroes (H4H) have been of great help to many soldiers, including Ben Parkinson (see below). Ben is a member of John’s old Regiment and is the most injured soldier to survive the Afghan conflict. He is therefore one of the most severely disabled.
John had the privilege of serving for some 20 years as an army officer, serving with the 7th Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (7RHA), where he commanded G Battery (Mercer’s Troop) RHA, which won its battle honour at Waterloo.
John had a major accident as a young officer whilst serving with 41 Commando Group and would not have recovered to the extent he did without the help of a year’s rehabilitation at Headley Court – the now famous and critically important military rehabilitation unit. While serving in Dhofar, Northern Ireland and with Special Forces, a number of Johns friends, acquaintances and own soldiers were severely wounded or injured. In most cases, sadly not all, they made significant recoveries helped by Headley Court and all the other support agencies that have helped Ben.
Unfortunately in today’s social environment our fighting soldiers, are still not being looked after properly by their political masters, the majority of whom have had little or no experience of service and sacrifice. The military covenant (the incumbent duty of care to soldiers, when put in harm’s way, and their families), which soldiers always accepted as being “stretched” in time of peace, is being broken.
Raising Money through Sailing – John Fairley
I have raced a yacht round the world "the wrong way" against the winds in 2000/2001 on the Global Challenge. In December 2009 I crewed on a transatlantic yacht race sailing a 52 foot yacht called Great Escape and raised £12,000 for Help for Heroes.
In December 2012 I competed in the famous Sydney Hobart yacht race and raised another £11,000 for H4H. I am extremely grateful to all those who are supporting us in this endeavour – my fellow crew, clients, my business friends and associates and my close friends. Many of whom are donating their support free of charge.
So please dig deep and donate now for something that is very important for all those young people fighting for their buddies, Regiment and Country and extolling those wonderful values of service and sacrifice.