Sergeant Gareth Thursby

BRIZE NORTON TO AFGHANISTAN!!!

5th August on St George's Square in huddersfield we shall be carrying out a charity event to raise money for a unique and special coffee lounge in Huddersfield and to raise more awareness about the bench carry on the 16th September.

We shall be carrying out a static bike ride of 3000 miles alongside 751 press ups, which is the distance between Brize norton and Afghanistan. This will be commencing at 08:00.

All the money raised on the day will be going towards a local Huddersfield coffee lounge called Tommy's lounge. Tommys Lounge is a one of a kind cafe that acts as a safe house for people with mental health issues. The coffee lounge has strong military roots and has become a special place for local ex service and current serving members of the armed forces. Tommys Lounge is currently struggling to stay open due to financial situations, so all money raised will be greatly appreciated and will help to keep this one of kind coffee lounge open.

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THE BULLS BENCH!!!

Your donations will be to have a customised memorial bench commissioned for SGT Gareth Thursby, and situate it in his hometown of Skipton as an act of remembrance towards this great Yorkshire Warrior. The bench will cost between £4000 - £5000, all donations will go towards the cost of the bench being manufactured and anything extra will be given to a chosen charity.

The bench we have made will actually be the bench that we carry 22 miles from Halifax (Home of the Dukes) to Skipton ( Home of Gareth Thursby) on the 16.09.23.

Gareth David Thursby born and raised in Skipton, joined the British Army on 3rd August 1999. He completed training in early 2000 and joined the 1st Battalion, The Duke of Wellingtons Regiment. Early in his career he deployed on operations to Kosovo (KFOR) in 2003 and later Iraq (Op Telic) in 2005. After passing the Section Commanders Battle Course at the Infantry Battle School, Brecon, Gareth was posted to the Army Training Regiment in Pirbright as an instructor. When his posting to Pirbright was complete he returned to unit as a Section Commander which was now the 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (3 YORKS). Gareth was promoted in October 2010 to the rank of Sergeant and assumed his role as the Platoon Sergeant of 3 Platoon in Alma Company. In April 2012, 3 YORKS deployed as part of the 12th Mechanised Brigade upon Op Herrick 16 to Nahr-e Seraj South. The Battalion was disseminated throughout the area of operations at various checkpoints and the patrol bases, Patrol Base 1 became the central hub for Alma Company and CP Tora became the home of Gareth and 3 Platoon. on 15th September 2012, Gareth along with the most junior member of his platoon, Private Thomas James Wroe who had only just recently joined the Battalion on operations after his 18th birthday, were both victim to a 'green on blue' where an Afghan Local Policeman turned rogue, using the pretence of being injured himself and killed them both inside the checkpoint and critically wounded another, Private Augustine Forkyo of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Sergeant Thursby was 29 years old when he lost his life, he is survived by his wife Louise and their two children Joshua and Ruby.