Help for Heroes’ biggest individual fundraiser is about to set off on a new challenge for the charity.

This Armed Forces’ Day (Saturday, June 26) Steve Craddock will leave from Tynemouth for the ‘Tour de Borders’, which will pass through Corbridge next Friday (July 2).

The 320-mile route will make six overnight stops at Seahouses, Berwick, Selkirk, Lockerbie, Brampton and Corbridge – before returning to Tynemouth on the final leg.

Steve (63) was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to charity and the community, and he has raised more than £500,000 for Help for Heroes over twelve years, making him the charity’s biggest individual fundraiser. . He’ll be joined on the tour by Darran Challis on a recumbent bike as well as Matt Lum and Adam Clark on road bikes.

There’ll also be a Penny Farthing, ridden by Dean Williams, the charity’s regional fundraising manager.

Steve, who is from Newcastle and served multiple tours of Northern Ireland, said: “I am really looking forward to returning home, seeing my sister who I have not seen for about 18 years and cycling the superb coastline and countryside.

“When I first started having problems with my mental health some 15 years ago, there was no real help, in fact, there was very little recognition that PTSD was a problem.

“The fact that I was having hellish nightmares and reliving some terrible memories was something that very few in the medical profession had experience of.

“Phrases like ‘sort yourself out’ and ‘you’re just feeling a bit down’ were all too common.

“Then in 2008 Help for Heroes was formed and because of their work with our wounded, sick and injured, the realisation that many former servicemen and women were having problems coping with their past experiences, much more research and effort into the cause and treatment for PTSD was carried out.”

“This made me realise I was not the only one, and in many ways, my mental health was just a reaction to the things I had experienced on operations.”

The ‘Tour de Borders’ is Steve’s first cycling challenge since the pandemic and a warm up to several fundraising rides culminating in a 3,000-mile endurance cycle across Australia next August – from Perth to Newcastle.

To donate to Steve’s Borders’ Challenge visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/steve-craddock31.