What does the 80th Anniversary of D-Day mean to you?

Total commitment to a common cause? Collaboration? Innovation? Deception? Planning? Realistic training? Thorough preparation? Resilience? Flexibility? Comradeship?

Mindful of the huge cost in human lives on all sides, for me, the anniversary is also a moment to consider the enormous challenges we can overcome when we work together. I'm inspired by all of the aspects above and in awe of the generation that gave so much to restore our freedom.

Later this week I’m taking part in a charity bike ride around Normandy to raise money for the services family’s charity, SSAFA.

SSAFA supports serving and former service people from all three forces and their families.? The family bit is particularly important to me – support from families is really key to every service person.

I was very lucky, I left the army nine years ago relatively unscathed. One or two of my former colleagues were not quite so fortunate and that is why I’m asking for your help to support SSAFA.

The bike ride starts on Thursday morning and will see us cover 240 miles over 3 days around the D-Day area of Normandy, which believe it or not, is not as flat as you’d think. So far this year I’ve done about 130 miles on various types of bike, so it will be quite a challenge!

I’ve raised about half of my target amount and I’d be very grateful for your support and please share your thoughts on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

#DDay80