Keep your eye out for a First World War Tommy soldier on tour

Keep your eye open for a Tommy on tour.

Paul Wratten is taking to the highways dressed as a British soldier from the First World War to raise funds for Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) in Aylesford and its service veterans.

Mr Wratten set off from The Royal Harbour in Ramsgate yesterday morning and will be walking via Sandwich, Dover Castle and Hythe, following the coast to end up at the lighthouse at Dungerness.

He said: ”I just hope it doesn’t rain because the uniform is an original and it’s already heavy enough!”

Mr Wratten will be carrying a collection bucket and hoping his unusual attire will encourage people to stop and ask him what he is up to.

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“Charities don’t just need cash,” he added. “They need awareness of what they are up too.

“And I’m hoping I will get plenty of opportunities to chat to people along the way about the wonderful things we do at RBLI in Aylesford for our service veterans.”

Mr Wratten has himself worked at the RBLI factory for the past five years – first in the timber yard, then driving a fork-lift truck and now as an admin assistant.

He loves his job, saying: “It’s a very relaxed work environment. It’s more like a big family than a business.”

Mr Wratten is planning on taking four days to do his Tommy tour but has made the task slightly harder for himself by planning a few detours along the way for photoshoots, before finishing on Saturday.

He said: “I shall be visiting the Battle of Britain Memorial, and the gun battery at Dover Castle. So altogether I think I will be doing about 75 miles.”

You can sponsor the Tommy Tour by visiting this website.

Mr Wratten is no stranger to fundraising. He lives just behind the Cherry Tree Inn off Tonbridge Road in Maidstone and has persuaded the pub to hold numerous events for the RBLI.

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“We’ve collected several thousand pounds already,” he adds.

“Of course fundraising is very important. People coming out of the forces have been through so much. Lots of the time they are just cast off, thrown into society on their own. They are used to a military structure. That’s not there in civilian society.

“We bring them in, and there’s various levels of help available depending on what they need.

“The more funding we get, the more veterans we can help.”

The KM Media Group is also raising funds for RBLI.

Our Homes for Heroes Campaign aims to raise £100,000 for new buildings at the RBLI Centenary Village.

British infantry soldiers have been called Tommies since 1815, when the War Office began issuing a sample Soldiers Accounts Passbook, filled out in the name of an imaginery Tommy Atkins.