SECOND TO NONE RUNNER

Here is James Rous who I bumped into at the concert. He is one of our staunchest supporters and has run three London Marathons for us. He was there with Charlotte who is another blogger!! Its first time I have met another with this ridiculous habit. No wonder my hand shook!

SECOND TO NONE DIRECTOR RETIRES

Graham Jones has just retired from being the Director of Music of the Coldstream Guards and he held a concert in the Cadogan Hall this evening. It was a splendid show even if I had to listen to the long orchestral version of the Coldstream quick march. It went on for ages but it kept most of the audience happy. Graham has been a good friend of the charity's and we wish him every good fortune for the future. The most amazing bit was the appearance of the Swiss Army Drummers. They were sensational.

IDEAL VOLUNTEERS

Since Wednesday the Ideal Home Show has been taking place. ABF The Soldiers' Charity is the benefiting charity so well done and thanks to Media 10. We had the launch on Wednesday and we had the Band of the Grenadier Guards. Only problem was the celeb in his welcoming speech called them the Coldstream Band. I nearly expired and had to explain to the crowd who it really was and that they were the Queen's personal iPod. In the photo we have two of our loyal supporters,Alice and John Mills, who were doing great work on Friday when I blew in. Thank you to all our volunteers who do so much for the charity.

HORSES LIVE IN SW1

This is where the King's Troop now organise themselves somewhere in SW1 by being based in the very centre of London. This will be standard practice once the Troop leave St John's Wood. How they fit in is amazing. They are getting ready for the State Visit of the President of Turkey, no doubt lots of blarney on Europe and the euro!

DIGITAL POSTER

Spotted this at Earls Court reminding me that the British Military Tournament is fast approaching us. Tickets are selling well and some performances are nearly sold out. visit www.britishmilitarytournament.com

IDEAL PENSIONERS HELP

This is the team of Chelsea Pensioners who are helping us at the Christmas Ideal Home Show at Earls Court. The show is promoting the Homes for Heroes Appeal which has over 18 months raised £230,000. Despite the name of the Appeal it is for the Soldiers's Charity. We hope this show will add to the pot and get us to £250,000 by Xmas. Visit www.idealhomeshow.com and come along.

HERITAGE ROWS TO RECOVERY

This is Neil Heritage who I saw again this evening at the Row to Recovery Dinner. He is one of the six men who will row the Atlantic, a distance of 3000 miles. So what you may ask? Neil is a double amputee who was part of a Bomb Disposal Team in November 2004 when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Basra, Iraq. He was one of our first beneficiaries aand he helped us in one of our early campaigns. I saw him walk this evening and this time next month he will be half way across the Atlantic. Row to Recovery is raising money for H4H, SSAFA and ABF The Soldiers' Charity; they have raised 1/2 Million already and now their goal is a Million. Watch http://www.row2recovery.com/. There will be more about this over the next month. We in the Soldiers' Charity will be rooting for Neil.