David, 81, pounding the miles to help veterans get support

AN octogenarian is raising money for a veteran care village by clocking up 500 miles on foot over the summer months.

Retired Wing Commander David Forbes, who is president of the Rochdale branch of the Royal British Legion, aims to raise £500 for Broughton House Veteran Care Village in Salford through his efforts.

Come rain or shine, the great-grandfather, 81, can be seen pounding the streets around Helmshore in Rossendale.

He has so far chalked up 262 miles, averaging 4.5 miles per day, and aims to finish his mission by the end of August.

David is a longstanding supporter of Broughton House and is heavily involved with a number of service organisations across the north west.

As well as being president of the Rochdale branch of the Royal British Legion, vice-president of Greater Manchester County Royal British Legion, the founder and president of Rochdale Veterans’ Breakfast Club and president of the North Region Royal Air Force Air Cadets.

David, who has an MBE for his voluntary work with young people and service charities, is also a retired Deputy

Lieutenant of Greater Manchester. His involvement with the services traces back to 1954 when he joined the Air Training Corps, now known as the RAF Air Cadets.

Air Cadets usually collect money for Broughton House at the East Lancashire Railway’s 1940s weekend, but were unable to do so this year because of Covid-19. David decided to undertake his marathon challenge to compensate, raising much needed funds for the care home.

He said: “It’s important to help local veterans and Broughton House is a fantastic place which provides great care and needs our support.”

Broughton House is currently undergoing a £13m transformation to create the UK’S first Veteran Care Village.

Laura Carr, community and events fundraiser at Broughton House, said: “We are incredibly fortunate and grateful to have the continued support of David, who has been a long-time advocate for Broughton House. We cannot thank him enough for completing all these miles to raise money for our veteran residents.”

To support David’s fundraising mission visit justgiving.com and search for “david forbes” “broughton house”.