Amputees and injured service men and women from the armed forces and rescue services in the UK have the compelling support of the ‘no sympathy’ charity Pilgrim Bandits. Originally formed by a small group ex-SAS to push injured servicemen to their personal limits via extreme expeditions in so doing restoring confidence and self-belief.
This group of ex-Special Forces members referring to themselves as Pilgrims (from Regiment days) decided to add Bandits, with it’s obvious golfing association, after being accused of cheating (falsely) during a fund-raising competition. The group which had been raising funds for local charities supporting amputees and veteran service personnel, wanted to create something tougher and more challenging for amputees returning from modern conflicts as well as those veterans from past wars.
In 2010 the Pilgrim Bandits became a recognised charity. One of the founder members Mike explained, “We don’t do sympathy. It’s all about pushing the boundaries, as any member of The Regiment will remember from their Selection days it’s about “always being able to go a little further”, and that’s what we try and get across to these injured servicemen. Many didn’t want to leave the life that they had chosen, yet because of their injuries they are forced to and that can lead to a lack of confidence. By taking them on adventure training expeditions where the conditions are like those in the Forces, they don’t get any sympathy, but instead they are pushed incredibly hard. This restores self-belief which enables them to compete in events like the Para Olympics and share their experiences with under privileged young people in care homes, schools and detention centres – anything is possible if you try hard enough.”
The Pilgrim Bandits raise funds through challenging members of the public to step into an unknown environment and to really challenge themselves, and finally find out what they are made of. The monies raised from these and all their fundraising efforts is then channelled back into taking injured members on adventure and confidence building expeditions like retracing WW2 missions, like Operation Frankton, where the lads were required to kayak 90 miles upriver into Bordeaux. Or 2015’s 500 kayak down the Yukon River in Canada. “They may be injured but this is no reason to stop using the skills they acquired whilst serving.” Concludes Mike.
Find out more about the Pilgrim Bandits here: http://pilgrimbandits.org/