Royal Marines Band Service to finish 26 hours of arduous workouts to support colleague after horror diagnosis

Royal Marines Band Service (RMBS) personnel are testing their physical and mental limits to raise money for Sophie Ward today (September 26). Talented at playing the flute and saxophone, Musn Ward was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease at just 26-years-old in January.

Personnel from up and down the country have been completing tough challenges as part of the 26forSoph campaign to support her and her husband Rich - also in the RMBS. Gruelling workouts have been planned all day at the Alfred School of Military Music based at HMNB Portsmouth.

Musn James Talbot, 27, knew Sophie personally while carrying out his training. He told The News: “It was very sad news. She’s a great flute player. It has certainly hit the band service really hard.” Colleagues gathered in a brief spell of sunshine to do intense sets of burpees, star jumps and other exercises. Musn Talbot said: “It has certainly been a good start to the day, starting at 5.50am this morning through until 8am the following morning.

“We’ve got a variety of stuff planned throughout the day. We’ll do as much as we can. There’s going to be a few long sessions, but it’s worth it.” Musn Joe O’Connor, 19, added: “It’s pretty intense stuff. A lot of jumping around. There’s 26 hours of it, so we’ve got to pace ourselves to make it all the way through.”

Challenges are being completed across the globe to raise funds for the Royal Marines Charity (RMA) - which has been providing financial and other support to Rich and Sophie - Dorothy House Hospice Care for providing respite treatment, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. A total of £52,467 has been donated so far on the campaign’s JustGiving page. Musn Talbot said: “It’s been great to see the support. One of my colleagues was out in New Zealand and was there doing fundraising.

“It’s fantastic and amazing to see what can happen when everyone pulls together, even if it’s small donations here and there, it all adds up.” Musn O’Connor added: “It’s really nice to see people across the country coming together to support her. It’s nice for people to support the charities that help Sophie.” The cause has seen the entire of the RMBS come together, whether they know Sophie or not. Corps of Drums personnel at HMS Collingwood marched the base for 26 hours for the cause.

Roughly 18 to 20 people are planning to complete all 26 workouts, with dozens of others dipping in and out of the circuits. Musn Emma Sims, 19, of Fareham, said: “It was quite hard but we’re still going. We’ve done four other ones so far, but we’re gonna keep on going and make sure we’re not too tired. It’s intense, I’ve never done anything like this before. Sport links up with music quite a lot, due to the mental side of it and being calm under pressure and trying not to get overwhelmed.”

Musn Elenor Barry, 19, said: “I’m not really a morning person, so waking up really early was hard. I don’t think I was fully awake for the first circuit we did. It must be really hard for my colleagues who trained with Sophie. I’m just trying to do my bit to support the cause. What we’re doing is quite crazy, but it’s worth it. We’re planning on going through all of it. We packed as if we were going on holiday for a week, sleeping bags just in case we’d like a 20 minute power nap.”

Leading Physical Trainer Sharlotte Fallon organised the courses, which sees assault course style circuits and High-intensity Interval Training (HIIT) drills combined with Pilates and yoga. She said: “We’ve had quite a few intense workouts. We have a few low intensity ones coming up, but then we ramp it up again. It seemed like the right thing for the school to do something challenging. The 26 workouts make sense. We do a lot of physical training with the trainees, so I think it’ll suit them.”

Major Steve Green, director of music training at the Alford Schools of Military Music, said he was really proud of everyone’s efforts. “It’s great that we’ve had the chance as the school of music to do our bit to raise money for a worthy cause,” he added. “The situation is devastating for all of them, so this is just a small thing which the band service can do to raise awareness of the charities that are helping the family in such a difficult time for them.” You can make a donation to the fundraiser by visiting the page here.