Sgt Braille had a big adventure in London. He met famous people, visited some VERY interesting places, encountered some gorgeous ladies and great blokes. Here is his short, but moving, story ....
"I arrived in London not knowing what to expect, was told I would be meeting Pararegtom and to be "ready for anything". My first port of call whilst waiting for the Bearer to turn up was in a big office with lots of pretty girls wearing short skirts and high shoes and with cut glass accents ... woohoo!!! Result!! - and they all hugged me. Then I met Pararegtom, and with so much as a “Hello” the first words I hear from him are “Let's lose the Hat” and with that and a visit to a nice lady (Pararegtom’s sister) I acquired a Maroon Machine and found myself on attachment to the Parachute Regt. I must say I think I suit the colour. I drew that many admiring glances that Slingsby would have been foaming at the mouth and desperate to get home to some serious totty!!
It was then off to some rooms with lots of Mahogany furniture and very important people who would be giving me money ... Wow! These people have a lot of wet lunches, very nice but make me sleepy ... when I woke up later I was next to Pararegtom’s daughter's little bear who’s called Charlotte. Sometimes this job has some serious perks.
The next day I was to meet Robin ("Them") Horsfall - a really nice man. He talked to me about an Embassy (I’m sure it was not for Visas) and then signed some books and I let him be photographed with me. Then it was up to Parliament.
As you will have read (in The Guardian no less) I met two real life VC holders and had my photo taken at the Gurkha rally in Parliament Square (1). It was really dusty there ... I have to learn Nepali so that I can chat with these chaps, but we had a brilliant afternoon (2,3,4 ) – though I decided not to get to close to the kukri ... that would have been one close shave too many! I also got to meet Joanna Lumley – who is very, VERY, VERY lovely. It fair ruffled my fur, being so close to that vision of loveliness. To help me recover, Pararegtom, King_of_the_Burphas, Burpha’s Dad (who is a lovely chap) and Blueygirl took me for a wee drinkie (5). Have to say that the sunshine meant that I was fighting Bluey for the Pinot Grigio (6) much to the disgust of PRT (well ... I’m not really a Para ... and I think they drink pink wine anyway!) We then went to the Union Jack Club – had a good chat with the lovely ex-Ghurkas there and then went to the Bar and managed to convert the RAF to the Holidays4Heroes cause and they didn’t even flinch at the beret (good chaps those Crabs). (7)
The next day saw me overseeing the opening of a new nightclub (8) – a Bear has many roles, though this did mean a close encounter of the kind that had me wondering if I’d been badged 3 Para Mortars ... not even the champagne helped clear my memory of that. Though Bluey has offered therapy to help me through ... honestly PRT knows some ‘interesting’ people!
Friday meant that I had a serious business meeting and a ride on an A400 model (10) ... BMG this is the way to fly! We then went to meet up with some other Arrser’s who were gearing up for a serious party night in preparation for the Rugby the next day ... I’ll admit to needing to retire gracefully ... a Bear needs some beauty sleep to be ready to meet an adoring public.
Saturday, and the great day dawns, we RV with Blueygirl at Waterloo and take a busy train to Twickenham. I got to sing and watch pretty girls and stroke friendly horses (11) but not a beer in sight! Somehow my Bearer managed to get us to the stadium without passing a single watering hole ... I thought Paras were supposed to have homing beacons for beer tents? No matter, I got to see some things that would turn Slingsby’s fur grey ... 'Braille the Intrepid' strikes again and I was exposed to Village People types (12), Tatty’s knees (shudder!)(13) and got to be very close to a lovely bike (14) ... but the meany that is Bluey wouldn’t let me ride it even though the nice policeman said I could. Better than that I got meet a lovely donor and his son (15,16). Our seats in the stadium meant that we were the isolated island of Army pride in amongst lots of sailor types. But as we scored twice in as many minutes they were strangely silent ... I did lots of dancing and shouting and also got to see a couple of bears with no fur running round the pitch (I wasn’t happy that Bluey wouldn’t let me go and join them).
PRT then said we were going to somewhere called the cabbage patch – why he suddenly wanted to go to an allotment when I was gasping for beer was beyond me ... and anyway when we got there it looked more like a heaving mass of furless bears being washed in beer ... so we went barmy (17). I like this pub! Lots of lovely totty to look at, and better than that a small person to cuddle (18) and help me get my breath back before going for a table dancing session with a male voice choir of Royal Marines ... for a bunch of booties they were alright and even let me dance with the totty ... Airborne all the way!!! Slings, eat your heart out 
We did go back to the allotment and I got to drink with superheroes and meet policemen (19, 20) and sailors and more totty (21,22,23) ... Oh, we have to do this again!
[Ed: We would like to make it clear that Slingsby's Team of Bears are not totally focussed on Wine, Women and Song. They also enjoy good food and sleep.]
[Ed again: Sgt Braille has since returned to the Jersey Field Squadron (RE)(M) with his normal Sapper hat. However, Slingsby's Team has recruited Cpl Arnhem to ensure that the Maroon Machine remains part of the Team.]
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Holidays 4 Heroes is an informal group of people that assists wounded service personnel and their families get a precious break from the routine of rehab, hospital appointments and visits to welfare offices by facilitating holidays away from it all in accommodation donated by our sponsors in the UK and abroad. 
Deals with the cases that either lie outside the normal remit of the main Service Charities, or require a faster response than they can usually provide. Sometimes the cases require financial assistance, a little bit of nudging in the right direction for long-term help, or the application of a bit of expertise.