Ex-soldier Kev set for fundraising Normandy cycle challenge
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A former soldier from Wick will be paying tribute to the troops who took part in the Normandy landings when he sets off on a three-day charity cycling challenge in northern France this summer.
Kev Stewart is raising funds for the Royal British Legion in an event called Pedal Normandy Beaches, covering a 218-mile route, marking the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
“It’s important that we don’t forget the sacrifice all these guys made,” he said. “If it wasn’t for their sacrifice we wouldn’t have the world and country we live in now. It’s so important to keep the memory going.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It's going to be a great experience.”
Kev (45) is a committee member and flag-bearer for Legion Scotland’s Wick, Canisbay and Latheron branch.
He served in Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s with The Highlanders, leaving the regular army with the rank of lance-corporal. He then joined the Territorial Army and had two tours in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2003.
Kev’s experiences in Afghanistan left him with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Last July, Kev raised more than £1200 for the Legion by taking part in the three-day Pedal to Ypres, cycling around World War I battlefield sites and cemeteries in France and Belgium.
In September he was among a group of 10 who cycled almost 400 miles across 14 counties in England, raising more than £10,000 for The Not Forgotten, a charity that supports veterans and wounded serving personnel.
Before setting off for the Normandy ride in July, Kev will be taking part in several long-distance cycle events in different parts of Britain.
He will be tackling the Etape Loch Ness (66 miles) at end of April; the Etape Caledonia (85 miles) in May, taking in Pitlochry, Loch Rannoch, Loch Tummel and Schiehallion; and the Dragon Ride Gran Fondo (132 miles) in Wales in June.
Kev also hopes to participate in an 80-mile commemorative D-Day cycle in London on June 6 with The Not Forgotten.
All the money will be donated to the Legion and he has already surpassed the £1000 target he set on his online fundraising page.
“My total raised so far is £1350,” Kev said. “I’ve hit my target so everything after this is a bonus, and the extra that I'm making now I'm going to give to the local branch.”
He has been supported by members of the congregation at his church, Pulteneytown Parish. They have helped him raise £750, with £455 coming from sales of jam and marmalade made by the Rev Linda Broadley, the locum minister.
Kev’s sponsor sheet will be at the church up until the Normandy event.
Kev is studying for a Christian theology degree through the Highland Theological College in Dingwall. He is in his second year and his goal is to enter the army chaplaincy.
“I’m in the ordination process with the Church of Scotland,” he explained. “My view is to rejoin the army as a chaplain, and for me to do that I need to be ordained first.
“Linda, the minister, has been a great help. She has been including me in doing funerals and I’m learning a lot from her.”
Meanwhile, he is training hard for the series of cycling events.
“It’s going really well,” Kev said. “I’m a lot fitter this year and I’m really looking forward to it.
“When I do these things I find it really fulfilling and rewarding.”
Kev is still affected by PTSD, although it is “under control”.
He said: “It never goes away. It’s part of you, it’s part of your life, it’s part of your journey. I believe that God takes us through journeys and trials and tribulations to form us and to mould us into who we are.
“I believe God has got a purpose for us all and sometimes we've got to weather the storm.
“Winston Churchill had a great quote: ‘If you’re going through hell, keep going.’
“We're going to cycle around all five Normandy beaches, visiting all the memorials and all the battle sites and all the graveyards of the Americans, the Canadians and the British.
"That is what’s going to keep me going. Every pedal stroke is going to be easy because I’m blessed and grateful – I’ve got my physical and mental health and these guys gave their lives.
“Many of them were 19, 20, 21. The first part of the film Saving Private Ryan, that’ll be going through my head when I'm going through the beaches.”
Kev added: “There is a piece of Scripture that I think about every time I visit any military graveyard or memorial, one that resonates deeply with me and other veterans.
“It is John 15:13 – ‘Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.’
“I feel that this Scripture encapsulates the military spirit of bravery, selflessness and the commitment to protecting others.”
Kev undertook the Ypres ride last year after coming through two physical ordeals in the space of 18 months. First he contracted a near-fatal case of meningitis, then suffered a freak accident that left him with a broken tibia and fibula and a dislocated ankle.
He had to have his ankle rebuilt and he has a metal plate down the side of his right leg.
At the end of 2023 Kev and his partner Annemarie Simpson attended a Christmas lunch at St James’s Palace in London where they met the Princess Royal, patron of the Not Forgotten Association.
