Charity Pilgrim Bandits is taking injured soldiers and Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne up Mount Kilimanjaro next Wednesday.
The charity, which is Echo-backed, was set up by ex-Special Forces soldiers and now has supporters across the country.
The expedition leader is Rhys Jones, the youngest man to climb the highest summits on all seven continents, and the managing director of RJ7 expeditions, based at Heathlands Business Park in Ringwood.
One of the Bandits founders, ‘Mike’, told the Echo: “We’re taking 27 people including four amputee soldiers, and seven serving and TA members of The Rifles.
“We’ve raised more than £35,000 so far and the money will continue our work with amputees from the forces.”
The Bandits organise adventure challenges for injured soldiers.
The latest trip was sky diving with the Crown Prince of Dubai.
The amputees taking part included Doncaster’s Ben Parkinson, who was once the most severely injured British soldier to come back from Afghanistan, and Jake Bartlett, a Leeds resident from 2 Rifles.
John Sandford-Hart, an amputee ex-serviceman from Mudeford, and a charity patron who is also climbing Kilimanjaro, is taking up a 1948 Olympic torch.
He said: “The charity promotes injured servicemen pushing themselves to go that little further.”
To donate and for more information visit the group’s website at www.pilgrimbandits.com
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