A SOLDIER due to be sent on his first tour of Aghanistan hopes to raise enough money for a friend’s powerchair before he leaves.

S/Sgt Lee Brown, Manor Crescent, Moredon, is part of a group cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats from July 5 to July 8 to raise £3,000 for cerebral palsy patient Dale Welland, 24.

He will be joined by colleagues at the Defence Academy in Shrivenham WO1 Ian Harrod, from Cheltenham, WO2 Lee Swain, from Leicester, and WO2 Trevor Boyd, from Highworth, together with Defence Academy lecturer Ian Owens and librarian Aaron Cripps, from West Swindon.

Lee, who is in REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) and has been in the army for the last 18 years, recently received the news he will go to Afghanistan in September.

The 36-year-old, who has already served in Iraq, said: “I really want to do this before I deploy.

“It would be a feeling to go knowing that he has got the freedom to do what he wants.”

The team will cover the 889-mile distance in a continuous relay.

Riding in pairs, team members will take turns to complete three hours on the bike averaging 13 mph to complete the distance in around 68 hours.

Lee first got to know Dale, from Moredon, when he was manager of the Swindon Rockets Powerchair Football team two years ago.

He has since had to give that duty up, but Lee wanted to raise money for Dale to have his own chair rather than relying on those provided by the club.

Because Dale isn’t under 16 he is not entitled to government funding for the chair.

Lee raised the first £1,000 towards the £4,000 equipment by running last year’s Swindon Half Marathon.

Lee said: “Dale wants to be in the England squad - to me there’s nothing worse than not being able to do sport.

“It shouldn’t stop him doing stuff he enjoys.”

Any further funds raised will go to Help For Heroes, which supports injured servicemen, DebRA, a national charity supporting people with the genetic skin blistering condition Epidermolysis Bullosa, and The Linda McCartney Centre, which cares for cancer sufferers.

Lee added in support of Help for Heroes: “There are a lot of soldiers coming home with limbs missing and whatever we do to help is better than nothing.

“God forbid, I could be using that money, you don’t know.”

For more information or to donate to the challenge visit the website www.ride4heroes.

webs.com.