Eames support Cockleshell Heroes05-Jul-2012

Christian Stanley, an executive in the Lloyd’s performance management directorate, is retracing the route of The Cockleshell Heroes - one of the most daring, arduous and famous expeditions of the Second World War - in a bid to raise more than £25,000 for Help for Heroes. Along with two colleagues, Russell Timpson and Kevin Davis, his expedition involves canoeing 75 miles from the Gironde estuary to Bordeaux harbour, followed by a 100-mile overland trek to the town of Ruffec. Seventy years ago at the height of the Second World War 10 British Commandoes set out on the mission to destroy enemy vessels in docked in Bordeaux harbour. Only two survived: two died of hypothermia, while six were captured and shot. Stanley is recreating their journey as his tribute to those 10 commandoes, but also to raise funds for Help for Heroes, the charity dedicated to the physical and mental support of servicemen and women. 

The expedition has been more than a year in the planning and has received support from the 91-year-old Norman Colley, the last remaining member of the original team picked for the mission. Stanley has also received the backing of Lord Ashdown, a former marine, who has written a book on the Cockleshell Heroes. To support Stanley’s fundraising, Jardine Lloyd Thompson has produced a sponsorship form, designed to replicate a Lloyd’s slip, and is asking underwriters across the London market to contribute. Already generous donations from Eames Consulting Group, JLT, Clyde & Co, Aspen, Argo, Arch, Beazley, Pembroke, Novae, Ace, Chaucer and Jubilee have been given.

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