14 Days to the transatlantic row – Funds raised to date: £509,750!

Row2recovery, (a bold new project to raise money for Help for Heroes, the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) and ABF – The soldiers’ Charity) raised in excess of £100,000 at spectacular London dinner attended by over 350 guests at the Royal Horticultural Society on November 14. The London fundraising dinner was specifically timed to give supporters of Row2Recovery a chance to bid farewell to the guys as well as to raise more funds for this worthy cause.

Hosted by charismatic TV Historian Dan Snow, guests were entertained by British Paralympic heroine Baroness Tanni Grey-Thomson, DBE and Chairman of England Cricket Selectors, Geoff Miller, as well as the brave crew taking on the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge. The guests took part in a live silent auction during a sumptuous three course dinner washed down with Talisker Whisky. The dinner, supported by the Salamanca Group, was a resounding success for the charity and the party continued late into the night.

Row2Recovery is the brainchild of three former British Army commanders who trained together at Sandhurst and saw extensive combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ed Janvrin, Alex Mackenzie and Tony Harris witnessed friends and comrades sustain life-changing injuries, while Tony lost his left leg when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated under his vehicle in May 2009.

RFA Lyme Bay, currently operating in support of four minehunters based in Bahrain, was recently visited by the head of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

British soldiers marked a security success this weekend by facilitating a district governor’s shura – a traditional Afghan public meeting – in the previously troubled town of Showal.

130 personnel from 1 Squadron RAF Regiment, based at RAF Honington in Suffolk, have been given a rousing welcome home from their six-month deployment to Afghanistan by the townspeople of Bury St Edmunds.

The transition of security responsibilities from British to Afghan forces has taken a big step forward, with the closure of a UK-run checkpoint.

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox has held meetings with the Malaysian Prime Minister and Defence Minister, during which he reaffirmed his desire to reinvigorate the UK-Malaysian bilateral relationship.

Members of the RAF’s 51 Squadron have completed their first week of training with the US Air Force on the Rivet Joint aircraft, designed for airborne intelligence-gathering.

A team of British Army bomb disposal specialists have found and rendered safe 12 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) during one operation in Afghanistan.

Fed up with the endless newspaper articles about how troops were being sent to war with inadequate kit, TV presenter Mike Brewer decided it was time to find out the truth.