A FORMER Grenadier Guard has organised a charity football match between soldiers serving in the regiment and his local team.

Peter Brooks, 78, is drumming up support for the match between the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards and Kidlington Football Club on Sunday.

Mr Brooks is chairman of the Oxfordshire branch of the Grenadier Guards Association, having served for four years in the 1950s, and also fundraises for Kidlington Football Club.

The guardsmen will take on the home team at Yarnton Road and raise money for the Colonel’s Fund, which supports members of the regiment who have been injured while serving in its ranks, and has the Duke of Edinburgh as its patron.

Mr Brooks joined the regiment in 1953 and served for two years in Berlin and two at Windsor Castle.

Mr Brooks, of Cherry Road, Kidlington, said: “On each of the three tours in Afghanistan, the Grenadier Guards have been on, five men have died.

“There are quite a large number with limbs missing as well and the fund will look after them forever.

“We look after our own. I’m looking forward to the match, I hope it’s a good turnout. It has gone global among the Grenadier Guards fraternity at least. I like to think there is a lot of support in Kidlington as well.

“They don’t go anywhere lightly, so this is quite an honour for Kidlington.

“To have them here should be great, it should be a nice day out for everyone.”

The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment and was founded in 1656 as bodyguards for Charles II while in exile at Bruges, in Belgium.

They are foot guards and are one of five regiments responsible for guarding the monarch.

The adjutant of the battalion, Major Grant Baker, said: “Any money we can raise for that fund is going to be a very good thing.

Oxford Mail:

  • Kidlington FC will take on the regimental football team

“This football match is a wonderful enterprise to try to do just that, so we’re particularly grateful to Peter Brooks and we hope it goes well.”

The secretary of Kidlington Football Club, David Platt, said: “It’s not a usual pre-season friendly. Hopefully the Gren-adier Guards will support us and the people of Kidlington look at what we are doing, come down and have some fun.

“It’s a game of football and we’re using it as a fitness test, but it’s also for raising money for charity.

“Obviously we’re looking forward to it.

“It’s the first run-out the team will have had this summer, so we’re expecting a fairly tough challenge.”

The day of activities will start at noon, with the match kicking off at 2.30pm at the football club’s ground in Yarnton Road.

Entry is £5 and children under 15 will be admitted free of charge.

There will be a hog roast, bouncy castles, coconut shy, face painting and other attractions.

  • Our top stories: