An injured serviceman told he would never walk again has brought his epic 2,012-mile charity trek to Angus.
Having already completed 1,304 miles out of his ”BRIT 2012 Challenge” walk, Phil Packer MBE arrived at RM Condor in Arbroath on Tuesday to continue his walk across the UK.
He is doing the mammoth challenge despite suffering a severe spinal cord injury in 2008 and being told he was unlikely to walk again.
Walking eight to 10 miles for Phil is the equivalent of a marathon for a normal person.
He walked three miles in Kincardineshire, followed by three miles at RM Condor, joined on the Angus leg by 45 Commando commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Mike Tanner and Angus Lord Lieutenant Georgiana Osbourne.
His aim is to ask businesses not the public to come forward and donate £15 million to build a British Inspiration Trust Centre of Inspiration in West Sussex.
The aim is for the centre to transform the lives of young people contemplating self-harm or facing depression as a result of traumatic experiences.
Phil told The Courier: ”My aspiration was always to walk with young people every day, but I didn’t realise to what extent I was going to be educated by them and the people who look after them.
”Each county is very different, but there are similarities with some of the problems and issues and it’s been a little more emotional than I thought it would be.
”The charity is all about supporting young people aged 16-25 who have lost their self-belief and self-worth through trauma.
”I can identify quite well with this because I think I hid quite a lot behind my physical challenges. When people visited me in hospital and they asked how I was feeling, I would say, ‘Everything’s fine,’ and I see that in young people that they don’t really want to open themselves up to be hurt any more and I can see through that.”
When he finishes in December, Phil will have walked the equivalent of approximately 310 marathons in 330 days.
He added: ”The concept of the centre is to build a place of inspiration where other charities can refer young people who are in such desperate need of support that they need to regain their self-belief.
”They come for a residential period then they go back to that charity. But while they are at the centre, they will meet inspirational figures from every sector of society.”
Lt Col Tanner said: ”A couple of years I used to command a training wing and there were always issues about success rates of Commando training.
”We realised we just needed to make a connection between a recruit who aspired to be a Commando and a corporal who could connect that aspirational bridge.
”We focused all of our training on the corporals so they could make that bridge and inspire these young people.
”That’s what’s great about somebody like Phil he can make that aspirational bridge.
”He can say, ‘This is what happened to me and this is what I have done from here you can be in a bad place but come out of that.’ The message is ‘here is a bridge and this is the way forward’.”
Phil’s route then took him on to Dundee and Perth on Wednesday. You can follow his progress on Twitter.
Photo Jim Ratcliffe