Veteran from Hinderwell, near Whitby, raises more than £1,000 from sleep outs to help ex-forces personnel

Ex-Army Commando and Para Bryan Carter decided to take part in the Royal British Legion Industries’ (RBLI) Sleep out for March – and he’s praised the generosity of everyone who has helped.

Mr Carter said: “By my fifth sleep out, my fundraising had exceeded £801 thanks to a flurry of late donations and I was well pleased with that.

"But then I went to The Badger Hounds in Hinderwell to see what Decca and Cheryl had managed to raise via the contribution and swear boxes and wow –loads of notes and coins.

"The pair of them rounded the sum up to £150, thus £951 raised, close to the tantalising sum of £1,000 and well above my modest hopes of £200 to £250 max.

"The opening of the boxes garnered some more interest and before I knew it, contributions from Ollie, Robbo and Paul in the bar at the time pushed the total past the £1,000 mark.

"Then a cheque for another £20 was in the mix so thank you so much.

"My peer group from 64B Army Apprentice college, the dozen members contributed over £160 and various military units I served in about £220, but the vast majority of the cash came from people from Hinderwell and its environs.

“Thank you all very very much.”

Mr Carter said the RBLI had raised more than £750,000 to help build new accommodation and more emergency shelters for the 340 residents currently in care.