A POOLE based charity which helps to house veterans that have been living rough are to host their first 24-hour relay walk from Bournemouth Pier to Boscombe Pier.

Volunteers and ex-servicemen will be pounding the pavement along the mile-and-a-half stretch between the two piers to raise money for Helping Homeless Veterans UK.

The 24-hour event will commence at 9am on Saturday February 22 and will finish at 9am the following day.

Director of Helping Homeless Veterans UK David Wood said: “The pier to pier is turning into quite a big event now because we have 30 people who have signed up to take part who have all raised £100 pounds each.

“We know that everyone makes new year resolutions to either get fit or raise money for charity so we decided to set it up the event so that people can have the chance to do that.

“People who taking part can do it as many times as you like for as long as you want, or you can do what I am doing and do it for the whole 24 hours.”

All the money raised will go towards helping rehome homeless veterans and providing them with household essentials when they move into their new property.

The not-for-profit, volunteer-run charity works closely with the local authority to find homeless veterans and house them in suitable properties in the area.

They usually pay the deposit and help refurnish the house or flat and provide veterans with a welfare package for the first couple of weeks.