He's running 5,800 mile and he has a big thank you to South Tyneside people for supporting him

Paul Minter who has thanked South Tyneside people for supporting his 5,800 mile planned run.

‘Thank you so much’: That’s the message from an Army officer to the people of South Tyneside.

And it comes after they supported Hebburn man Paul Minter’s charity plans to run 5,800 miles.

Gazette readers jumped into action after reading Paul’s story when it first appeared in the Gazette in August.

We told how Staff Sgt Paul Minter, 34, of the Household Cavalry wants to set up a charity retreat where people who have been in the military can come for support through their dark times.

Paul Minter is just weeks away from the start of his mega charity run.

To raise money for it, he plans to run 30 miles a day for 200 days, starting in South Shields on November 28 this year which is the day after he is medically discharged from the Army.

Lots of people saw the story and Paul said: “Quite a few people got in touch and offered me places to stay. I also got calls from people in the military that I used to work with and some of them were people I hadn’t spoken to for 10 years.”

People is so thankful to everyone who has offered support but he admitted: “I will definitely need more.”

Paul, who used to live in Hebburn and is now in St Albans, has seen service for 18 years.

Paul hopes to raise enough money to set up a retreat for both former and serving military personnel.

He has twice faced life-or-death experiences while he was on duty in the Helmand province of Afghanistan.

First, in 2006, his seven-strong unit was ambushed in a rocket attack and only three of them came out alive. In 2011, Paul was the leader in a Jackal machine gun vehicle when it hit a roadside bomb.

He told the Gazette previously: "When you are in the Army, you need to focus and the doctors said I was unable to continue service.”

Paul has founded a charity called Head Up and Paul is also setting up a holistic retreat where military personnel can come for seven to 21 days.

But Paul, a former South Tyneside College student, added: “We need a substantial amount of money to set up a retreat and I thought ‘I am going to have to go all out to achieve this.

"This is a run which would be a world record. It has never been achieved before.”

To find out more, visit https://www.head-up.org.uk

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