Walk The Island event this weekend is raising money for the legacy of Portsmouth D-Day hero John Jenkins

Walk The Island was an event founded in 2022 to raise money for charitable causes in the city.

This year - fittingly, given the D-Day 80 commemorations - monies raised will go towards improving the facilities at The John Jenkins Stadium in Copnor.

John Jenkins MBE was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, France's highest military award, for his role in the D-Day landings in 1944.

A lifelong supporter of his home city’s football club, he was still volunteering as a boardroom steward at Fratton Park when he was 97.

Aged 99, he shared a stage with the late Queen Elizabeth 2nd and many heads of states at the D-Day 75 anniversary event on Southsea Common in June 2019.

John died in December that year, a month after his 100th birthday, and his legacy will be the stadium on the site of Moneyfields FC’s former Dover Road base.

In addition to two full-size 3G pitches, there will be facilities for the wider non-footballing community to use.

Originally scheduled to be finished in October 2022, rising costs have led to huge delays in completing the Pompey In The Community owned project.

While the pitches are now being used, the building is far from complete - and monies raised by this weekend’s Walk The Island event will go towards making it a fully operational hub for all kinds of community use.

Money raised will, according to the organisers, help “furnish the hub with comfortable sofas and armchairs for users to relax, engage and connect.

“But that's not all - there are also plans to create a flexible cafe/restaurant style seating area to further enhance this amazing development.

“The connection with the city of Portsmouth is what this is all about. It is anticipated that every year the hub will host up to 40,000 Portsmouth adults and children across many different activities with diverse abilities.”

A handful of local charities will also make the hub their new home.

A JustGiving page has been set up, with this year’s Walk The Island target £25,000. The total is currently just over a fifth of that figure.

Last year, Walk The Island raised £36,550 - £24,550 of which was donated to EnableAbility's WheelChair Basketball Club and the rest to Spark Community Space.

There are two groups of 50 walkers each taking part in Saturday’s event, leaving South Parade Pier at 10am - one group will be walking clockwise around the island and the other anti-clockwise.

Alan Biley, whose goals helped Pompey win the Division 3 title in 1982-83, will be among those walking.

To donate, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/walktheisland