Okehampton’s Royal British Legion (RBL) branch has an action-packed spring and summer ahead with hopes to get involved with Ten Tors in future years and put on a fundraising walk in memory of a much-loved member who recently passed away.

Okehampton’s RBL hopes to sponsor a team in the coming years for the famous Ten Tors challenge, which sees thousands of teenagers walk across the northern part of Dartmoor each year, in order to get more young people involved in the RBL, which offers youth membership to anyone between the ages of 12 and 18, and increase awareness of its work with parents, teachers and other youth organisations.

Okehampton RBL chairman Darren Kelly, said: ‘There is a youth side to the Royal British Legion; we affiliate with local youth organisations. The county has always wanted to put together a Ten Tors walking team but we can’t do because of the the umbrella of the insurances, it just wouldn’t happen.

‘So I said “why don’t we support a team?” We can give them some Royal British Legion T- shirts and some caps and some walking trousers and maybe a rucksack cover with Royal British Legion Okehampton or Devon.’

Mr Kelly has also organised the RBL Okehampton Moorland Trek fundraising walk, named after RBL standard bearer Mark Murdoch who passed away at the end of last year.

The event, which will take place over three days in June (June 2, 3,4), will see Mr Kelly and anyone who wants to join him walk 38 miles across moorland near Okehampton to raise money will go towards continuing RBL’s work in the community.

The inspiration for the walk came after Mr Kelly attempted a 121-mile walk in November last year (the distance between all the cenotaphs in London) but found himself 38 miles short, which Mr Kelly decided he would complete in a separate event to raise money for the branch in memory of Mr Murdoch.

Mr Kelly said: ‘I did majority of it, but I was 38 miles short. I wanted to come up with an idea on my own. I thought I’d [walk the remaining 38 miles] and I’ll do it over weekend and try and make it a big thing.

‘It was just an idea I thought of when I was driving the car one day, It’s 38 miles and it’s over two nights and it’s going to be a fundraising event for the branch.’

The walk will end outside the Royal British Legion club on Station Rd where a reception and buffet will follow.

Mr Murdoch, an army veteran, was influential in setting up the memorial tree in the RBL’s garden on which people can hang baubles in memory of lost loved ones.

Anyone who wants to donate to the walk, can visit the GoFundMe at https://gofund.me/277ae233 or email Mr Kelly at [email protected] or branch community support officer Joe Endacott at [email protected] for more information.