Hello and welcome to Project65.net
Project 65 has been created to honour the memory of the men who took part in the Coup de Main operation to capture the bridges on the Caen Canal and River Orne in the early hours of D-Day 65 years ago. The bridges are nowadays known as Pegasus and Horsa Bridges. A team of fund raising volunteers will leave Tarrant Rushton Airfield on June 4th next year and run 65 miles to arrive at Pegasus Bridge to celebrate the 65th Anniversary of D-Day on June 6th 2009.
The organisers of Project 65 aim to raise £500,000, part of which will be used to erect a simple but lasting memorial to the men of the Coup de Main force and those directly associated with that operation 65 years ago.
The memorial will be erected directly in front of the original bridge within the grounds of the museum which now displays the original bridge over the Orne Canal.
Most of the money raised will be divided between: The Royal British Legion, BLESMA, St Dunstan’s, RAF Benevolent Fund, Army Benevolent Fund, and Help for Heroes, so that they may continue to help the disabled and wounded men and women of today’s Armed Forces.
With the project now only 8 months away, Barry Tappenden, ex Station Warrant Officer RAF, Project 65 founder and youngest son of Cpl Ted “Ham & Jam” Tappenden, Oxf and Bucks Light Infantry, the Radio Operator who landed in No 1 Glider with Major John Howard, is busy preparing for the run. He will be joined by L/Cpl Geoff Baulk, a volunteer with 7 Rifles, who served in Afghanistan last year. There are now over 100 other runners already signed up for this unique event.
Runners are invited from everywhere but, in particular, from the Royal Air Force, (Tugmasters, Halifax Bomber Sqn.), the Army Air Corps, (Pilots and Navigators of the Gliders), the Rifles, (successor regiment of the Royal Green Jackets, and Oxf & Bucks Light Infantry), the Royal Engineers, (who were ready to remove explosives from the bridges), the Parachute Regiment and the Royal Army Medical Corps.
Any relative or close friend of the Coup de Main force will also be welcome to take part in the run along with members of long distance running clubs and anyone else who can manage the distance and raise the money for the named charities. It is hoped to organise the runners into teams equating to the number of men in each of the six gliders.
Sign up soon to be a runner, a helper or a supporter and become involved in this historic and one-off event.
The Ham and Jammers need to know who you are!
Click here to find out more about the Supported Charities
Project 65 - Supporting Veterans
I would just like to say a special thank you to James Davis over at FreeCharity.org.uk for kindly donating the server space to host this website. FreeCharity.org.uk - Free Webhosting for UK charities and non-profit organisations.
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Latest News.....
October 12th 2008
The Pegasus Bridge Show by Michael Bawtree, is a specially created theatrical production for Project 65, about the daring coup-de-main operation, when men of the 6th British Airborne Division seized the famous Pegasus and Horsa bridges in Normandy, in the opening minutes of D-Day More…
October 1st 2008
Littlestone hosted the first of three Charity golf days to be held across the country. In his speech General Sir Robert Pascoe thanked Littlestone for hosting the day and expressed his delight and thanks on behalf of all the benefitting charities at the generosity of the participants. The total sum of money raised on the day was over £13000 with a further pledge of a substantial donation. Read the full story here…
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Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson 7 PARA proudly wearing a Project 65 dogtag!
We have a new Patron!!
We are delighted to announce that Ben Parkinson has agreed to be a patron of PROJECT 65. This is wonderful news as Ben has been very much in the media spotlight and has been campaigning for us already. He is due to be interviewed by the Daily Mail on 2nd August and hopes to be able to talk a lot about PROJECT 65!