It all began on the Sunday of the August Bank Holiday when I, Cpl Arnhem from Sgt Slingsby's Team, was taken to the Aldershot Branch of the PRA for the Summer BBQ.
It was all going well until I had a few pints and then some more - I even went behind the Bar to sort out the staff. it was going well, the PRA gang were great as were Gill & Julie my Bear Carers. I also met the Bear Carers' Adopted Granddad, Alex (ex Royal Marine). I had a quick swig of his beer when he wasn’t looking, ended up getting into all sorts of strife, kept the girls on their toes - lol
Had loads of posey pics taken with the PRA members, all for a Donation to our cause of course. It was a great day and I went for a wander around Malts Barracks, and had more beer, then thought I would do a Koala Impression. After a tiring day I collapsed on the PRA floor, apparently that’s not unusual for this place, only I snuggled up with Lillie who had also had a big day (barking at everyone!). Anyway, had time to recover before the Arnhem trip … had a couple of days to recover before the Arnhem March Weekend!!!!!
OMG - Thursday 3 Sep arrived! It was dark and chilly at 4am in the morning. The Girls, including my Carers, started drinking Pimms at 4.20am!!!! They were drunk before Dover, but hey, they were enjoying themselves! It was a choppy crossing, and we all slept through France and Belgium. Eventually we arrived at Haarscamp, the Girls took me to their room, shared with a nice bunch of girls - nearly all drunks though…lol. After dinner we all got ready for a night of more boozing in the Naafi, not sure what time we got to bed. I was lucky, got to sleep in on Friday while the gang went off out, Gill and the gang went to Arnhem, while Julie and Simon went to Amsterdam for the day. Saturday dawned, bright and early we went out on the Parade ground, it was exciting cos Gill and Julie presented Major Trown with a huge cheque for H4H, money Gill had raised from jumping out of planes. I still had that adventure to come!!! Then onto the coach to Oosterbeek, where the March was starting from. I was to do 25K with David Rashbrook (ex 10 Para) and a lovely new Dutch Friend called Floor - she was cute, and ended up carrying me for the 25K. It was a fab day, everyone was buzzing and The Bear Carers were buzzing from too many beers!!! I did have a few myself after the March, but then I had earned them. Gill was brilliant and managed to get one of our collecting tins full up - she told the people on our coach about our great cause, and everyone made a donation!!! I was shattered after the long day and retired to our Barracks while the girls went out drinking into Arnhem, Bloopers being the main meeting place for all the Paras. Seems like the girls were drunk again, especially that Christine, what a girl.
Sunday morning came around too quickly, and then it was onto the coach and back home to Aldershot, all over for another year!!!
But there was more to come .....
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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.