Paul Weston

In 2011, a group of wounded veterans, joined by Prince Harry, undertook the first expedition of its kind to the North Pole, proving that the sky was still the limit for those wounded in the service of their country. The team showed the world what veterans can do, and from there, Walking With the Wounded was born.

A key part of the expedition kit was the trusty pulk, the sled that not only carried equipment and supplies over obstacles and some of the toughest terrain on earth but also symbolised the mental load that wounded veterans carry throughout their lives.

In December WWTW are running an event called Long Way Home, it is a very special ‘pulk pull’. Starting at the Cenotaph in London, the route heads north via their Manchester head office and concludes at their regional hub in Newcastle.

The event is being done over 16 legs all covering roughly 40km a day and fully supported by an on-the-ground Walking With the Wounded expedition crew.

As part of this event, and because I love to be a little extra, I will be pulling two back-to-back legs dragging the 100lbs Pulk behind me, starting at Aston-by-Stone in Staffordshire, on December 13th and finishing some 80+km later at Tatton Park in Knutsford, by the evening of the 14th, going via Stoke and Congleton along the route.

In a world filled with challenges, our veterans deserve unwavering support and WWTW are there to provide mental health, employment, and care coordination programs to help them get back on their feet. Please join with me in helping them to shape a future where veterans thrive and families flourish – honouring the past and empowering the present.

WWTW targets those who have fallen the furthest, men and women struggling with mental health issues, unemployment, or homelessness. By providing early intervention programs and speeding up access to therapy we are changing the lives of veterans and, crucially, their families.