Details to follow – please click here for the website

(Parliamentary copyright images are reproduced with the permission of Parliament)

There will be a celebratory dinner hosted by the Royal Marines section of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the Armed Forces.

The dinner will be held at the House of Commons on 21st March and the Chairman, Oliver Colvile MP has said that he would be delighted if Alan could attend the dinner and say a few words about The Baton.

To be invited to attend is regarded as a great privilege by all at the Baton.

Details to follow – please click here for the website

Help for Heroes, have joined many other lovely folks in wanting to carry the Baton and its message this coming year.

Last year David King carried the Baton on the Help for Heroes Big Battlefield Bike Ride, please have a look at David’s brilliant account of his ride, including photos here.

David is featured with fellow riders from other countries, carrying and holding the Baton throughout the ride, including all the emotional memorial stops, this video is still available from the Help for Heroes online shop.

The Help for Heroes outline plan is to get the Baton and its message to as many interesting places worldwide, at the same time recording its journey through a dedicated diary with our injured and Help for heroes challenges participants, they will all be taking part in an assortment of challenges and events.

Details to follow – click here for the website.

This is an amazing attempt by Mark who will have the Baton with him during a World Record attempt that will take every ounce of his endurance to achieve, please look at his web site to learn more about Mark and this incredible venture in aid of VIA an organisation that is giving such invaluable practical help.

Mark’s dive will commence June 18 2012 at 10:00hrs.  The current record is 100 hrs (4 days and 4 hrs) the dive will be done in scuba gear, i.e. nothing can be attached to him that goes back to the surface.

Want to join him?

If you want to join Mark or have underwater ideas to offer to help the time go by and to keep him company, then please contact him through his website.

Dive Party

On June 3oth after the dive attempt, there will be a fabulous party in celebration of Mark’s effort at a Brighton night club, as with the dive attempt all money raised on the night will go to VIA.  Please click here to visit the Party website and get involved.

To watch this moving and very honest interview please click here.

To read more about the Run please click here.

The Run

This year the Baton Run to the National Memorial Arboretum Lichfield will start from RAF Brize Norton 7:30 pm on the 5th November, running approximately 100 miles through the night to arrive at the NMA as near to midday on the 6th as possible.  This is no walk in the park and any money raised will be well earned.

To see the Run Route please click here and support the team if they are running near to where you live, come the morning they will need it!

The reasons for the run are -

• There can’t be a better point to start than the gateway to Afghanistan, where amongst normal traffic sadly repatriations are made.
• A large part of the Baton’s cause is to remind us all to Remember the effects of service life, not just on the serving person but also on their family and friends, all will carry memories forever.
• Running a week before our Remembrance weekend
• To our national place of memorial where we Remember all the serving personnel lost since the end of World War 2 – over 16,000 names are carved in the walls there

At RAF Brize Norton the team will have the pleasure of handing over a cheque to an appropriate RAF charity for £1,000 and when reaching the NMA the team will also handover a cheque there for at least £500.

Taunton Sea Cadets will be at the NMA, as last year to provide a Guard of Honour for the team as they run up into the main memorial, which is always an emotional moment.  We would really like to see other forces cadets join them, especially if they haven’t been to our national place of memorial before as they can learn so much from the visit.

To sponsor the team on their through the night effort please click here.

BLOG

If you would like to follow the Event BLOG please click here.

We are also tweeting through the night following the runners, to see more please visit us on Twitter – thebastionbaton.

Photos on the BLOG of the night run can be seen here.

News & Media

To download a Press Release for the event please click Brize Norton to NMA Press Release

To listen to a British Forces Broadcasting Station (BFBS) Interview with Suzanne Dando (Trustee) on the upcoming run please click here.

To watch an interview with Alan Rowe, MBE, Founder of The Baton and Suzanne Dando, Trustee of The Baton talking about the run please click here.

To watch the run through the night from WitneyTV please click here.

Sponsors of The Run

Our sincere and grateful thanks to the following companies for their invaluable support of the run….

 Harts of Honiton

Otter Windows

Denhay

AG Signs

Suzanne Joins The Team

As well as our regular runners we are delighted to have two new Baton Trustees on the team, Suzanne Dando and her husband Adam Reynolds.

Many will remember that Suzanne made her name through the sport of Gymnastics.  She achieved the highest accolade by representing her country in the Moscow Olympic Games, former Olympic Gymnast and British Gymnastic Champion, Suzanne has gone on to a successful career in television, theatre and the media.

Suzanne has been very supportive of the Baton and its message since she organised and carried the Baton on the Remembrance Expedition in honour of a truly great lady, Nancy Wake.

DAUNTLESS Division are a Division of Royal Naval Officer Cadets, who are currently undergoing fleet training on HMS Albion.  The 14 members of the Division, with their Division Officer will be running the Plymouth 10k on Sunday 6th November carrying the Baton and its message.

These are young people training to carry on the great traditions of our Royal Navy, who in time the country will rely on, with others, to protect the many freedoms we enjoy, if you see them give them a cheer!

If you would like to sponsor DAUNTLESS Division please click here.

Left to right: (all Rank of Officer Cadet)

Mark Heller, Ali Al Rahbi, Will Payling, Edem Akati, Debbie Harmer, Simon Holden, Luke Fisher, Chris Cowan, Andy Osborne, Andy Warwick, Alan Morrison, Christian Lowe, Adam Thompson, Owen Sands.

The Divisional Officer British Army, Captain Shane Green of the Mercian Regiment, will be running too.

The evening is started with a comprehensive lecture from a senior dignitary about matters of Naval importance.  Once this is complete the guests of the Hudson committee are invited to attend the ‘Hudson dinner’ at one of the colleges in Oxford University.

History of the Hudson fund: Oxford University accepted, with gratitude, the bequest by the late Mr Richard Guy Ormonde Hudson, DSC, of one-third of the residue of his estate to establish a fund to be known as the Guy Hudson Memorial Fund, the net income from which shall be used for the education of officers of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines at the University.  The bequest currently funds the ‘Hudson Fellow’, a research fellow at St Anthony’s college and also a number of projects throughout the academic year.  Recent events have included conferences, lectures and more diverse projects such as leadership development for URNU Midshipmen.

The Oxford Royal Naval Unit has the pleasure of arranging this event and has requested the honour of having ‘the baton’ on the table as focal point and to get one of the senior military personnel to read the message that the baton holds.

If you have any queries or need additional information about the Hudson Trust of Oxford University Royal Naval Unit please contact CPO Gary Maskell on 01865 255330 or email on Urnu-oxford-cpo@mod.uk