Freemasons Complete Pegasus 'Yomp'

Freemasons walk 112 miles in aid of wounded British soldiers

Four Freemasons from Tyndall Lodge (Rich Harris, Steve Bullen and Phil Green), plus Shaun Harris from Kingswood Chase Lodge, completed their 112 mile challenge in just over four days. This amazing challenge has put them well in reach of their goal to raise £10,000 for BLESMA.

107 miles to go, soaked to the skin

The walk to Pegasus Bridge begins

Weather for the first two days was atrocious, with high winds and flooding. "Only five miles in and we were wet to the skin, even questioning the wisdom of what we had taken on" said Phil Green. Rich 'Bomber' Harris added, "We had trained hard all through the summer, but had not prepared for rain like this! Here we were on Day One with wet boots and now sure to get blisters." How right he was!

A spectacularly sign-painted support Land Rover, driven by serving fire-fighter Mike Hopkins, attracted much attention along the route and drew interest in BLESMA from Brits and French alike.

Supporting wounded soldiers

Keeping up morale, spurred on with encouragement

From Day Two onwards, two car-loads of friends would appear unannounced along the route to offer support. "If our heads were ever down," said Steve Bullen, "the sudden flashing of headlights, blowing of horns and yells of encouragement were all that was needed to spur us on." Some vehicles were not so welcome, however; Shaun Harris being only millimetres from being taken out by an overtaking vehicle on one occasion.

Masonic Walk Undaunted, at precisely midday on Saturday 10 October, holding up a stream of (mostly) supportive motorists, the quartet marched across the replacement Pegasus Bridge, to be met by an enthusiastic group of supporters including Noel O'Driscoll's widow, Pat, and his sister Dolores, together with Brother Robin Jones who Noel had accompanied on that first walk 22 years previously.

Then just across the road to the "Memorial Pegasus" where the original Bridge is now located. Maybe more than 50 members of Winchester Army Training Regiment happened to be visiting the museum and roundly clapped and cheered the guys into the grounds. The French press was in attendance and curator, Mark Worthington (ex-RAF), laid on a champagne reception and personal tour of this magnificent museum.

Back on the ferry on Sunday, much of the time was spent tending to battered feet. One thing is for sure; Noel would have been proud of his "Band of Brothers"!

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