In April this year, one young cadet asked his support worker at the Berwick Youth Project if she could help him to raise money for Help For Heroes.

Within 24 hours, Connor Armstrong, Greg Hogarth and Nathan Jerdan, three members of Berwick Detachment, W Company, Army Cadet Force (ACF), held their first meeting with their support worker at the project.

What followed was six months of hard work applying for a small amount of funding, giving presentations, planning and organising a coffee morning, visiting local businesses, writing letters asking for donations, holding meetings with people they didn't know, organising a raffle, budget management, time management, teamwork skill….the list goes on.

The group was supported in some of these tasks by Debra Jerdan, team leader of information and support services at Berwick Youth Project, Lt Keith Marchant, of Berwick Detachment W Company ACF and Tony Brown, of the Royal British Legion.

The lads also held a meeting with Rae Huntly, of Haggerston Castle, and a number of fundraising events were planned with the park's support.

This resulted in Haggerston Castle donating the four main raffle prizes for a grand draw; one employee was waxed; a number of employees planned a sponsored walk; the ECHO charity organised a raffle and the lads held a car boot sale at Haggerston.

Then, on Saturday, September 26, a coffee morning planned and organised by the lads and their 'background team' took place in the Guildhall, Berwick.

On the day a number of serving personnel from the Army and the Royal Air Force supported the ACF detachments of Berwick and Duns by running information stalls, sharing their service experiences and encouraging the cadets throughout the event.

Eyemouth Pipe Band played on the Town Hall steps and a climbing wall was erected. The doors opened at 10am and the Guildhall was filled with members of the community supporting the young people to raise as much money as possible for Help For Heroes.

"The atmosphere in the Guildhall was very positive, with lots of praise from members of the community and from invitees to the event," said Debra.

"It was a pleasure to see young people working together to ensure their event was as successful as possible."

In total, the event raised £2930.

But the coffee morning was just the start of what was to be a very busy day.

Cadets from both detachments took part in a 25-mile overnight sponsored walk, which started at 6pm that night.

"Again, the young people remained positive and enjoyed this challenge – despite blisters, sore feet and tiredness," added Debra.

Saturday, October 3, saw Berwick's cadets and their 'background team' out and about with their collecting tins to raise more money.

The collection, made in Marygate, Castlegate, the Co-op, Homebase, Berwick Speedway and a number of local pubs raised a further £1300.

The group of three young men originally hoped to raise £250 for their chosen charity – at the time of writing this report the total raised is £6500 with sponsor money still to be collected.

"A magnificent achievement by everyone involved in the project," said Debra.