A GROUP of army officers from Wexford went the extra mile for the Hope Centre recently when they pulled a 16 tonne armoured tank from Wexford to Enniscorthy, raising in the region of €20,000.

The group of the officers who were all touched in some way by cancer came together recently and decided to have a fundraising event for the Hope Centre in Enniscorthy.

Neil Matthews from Monageer said they approached their commanding officer about the plan and were given the green light. The Kilkenny and Curragh based army officers began training last month and took turns pulling the vehicle from Wexford to Enniscorthy.

Mr. Matthews said: “We decided we would pull an armoured car which is about 16 tonnes. There were 16 lads pulling it at a time so it was a tonne a lad. We changed around every half hour.”

He praised the effort of everyone involved, saying they all volunteered their time to prepare for and complete the event.

The group left from Wexford quayfront at 9 a.m. last Friday and went up past the old county hall and out along Ferrycarrig Road and into the N11 to Enniscorthy, receiving huge cheers of support along the way, arriving at 4:30 p.m.

At the time of going to press over €13,000 was already totted up, and with more sponsorship cards to come in, organisers are hoping it reaches the €20,000 mark.

For the full story see this week’s Echo printed newspaper editions.