Your Life Dad-of-two Damian tackling 100km trek

A COVENTRY broadband engineer is swapping the information superhighway for the hills of Yorkshire – all for a great cause.

Damian Woolliscroft, who works Openreach, is taking part in a gruelling 100km trek in aid of Blind Veterans Charity UK on June 17.

The charity is important to Damian because he served in the Army for seven years.

Damian, who is based in Little Park Street, will be joined on the trek by two former Army colleagues, and has the backing of his wife Tricia and sons, James, 12, and Rhys, nine.

Damian, 43, joined Openreach nearly three years ago. During his spell with the Army, he served in the Royal Logistics Corp, mainly based in Germany, with tours in Bosnia and Northern Ireland.

He said: “My day job involves working with the engineers rolling out superfast broadband around the UK. I can’t promise my trek will be superfast, but I’m determined to finish it as quickly as I can. My colleagues have been really supportive – here in the Midlands but also abroad – with donations coming in from as far afield as Singapore.

“My family know it will be a tough challenge for me because I’ll be walking non-stop over 24 hours, but they’re very supportive.

“It’s fairly flat where I live, so I’ve taken myself off to Derbyshire and South Yorkshire as part of my training.”

Damian’s challenge starts and finishes at Darley Memorial Hall.

You can sponsor Damian via his page: justgiving.com/fundraising/ damianwoolliscroft A TERRIFYING sight awaited visitors to Crackley Hall when the school was invaded by dastardly vikings from the Dark Ages.

Children and staff came to the Kenilworth school in costume, took Viking names and spent the whole day finding out about Viking life.

They began their day in a Viking village, gathering around the fire to listen to the Viking Chief, Lord Utred.

He tasked them with exploring the village and getting hands-on with Dark Ages crafts such as candle making, pottery, rope-making, fabricating jewellery, producing their own ink and even concocting Viking medicines and potions.

The children then went on to be trained as Viking warriors, learning the skills they would need to protect the village from the invading Anglo Saxons. They listened to battle tales of King Alfred and then learnt about Viking discipline. They had the chance to handle artefacts, wear armour and learnt the art of handling a Viking sword.

The Viking Day was led by History Off The Page, a specialist company which helps bring history to life in the classroom.