It takes a good eye for detail to spot something a little out of the ordinary when photographing a sporting event, such as the recent Horwich Triathlon.
But Bob Howell, a former Sapper and now a photographer for Mick Hall Photography, did just that. He saw one competitor wearing a sports top emblazoned with “SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity” and decided to have a word with the wearer – after the 500-metre swim, 40-kilometre cycle ride, and 8.6km run to the summit of Rivington Pike and down again.
Bob had a chat with the triathlete, Dale Boydell – late of 1st Battalion Queen’s Lancashire Regiment later the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment.
So far, so… well… routine.
Except that Bob found Dale to be anything but a routine entrant in the triathlon – organised and run by Epic Events – which is nicknamed the “Kona of the North”.
After leaving the Army, Dale was diagnosed in December 2020 with Stage Two brain cancer. He endured surgery, then 35 radiotherapy sessions and 35 chemotherapy treatments.
Just a few weeks ago, however, Dale was given the all-clear by his medical team at The Christie in Withington, Manchester, and pronounced fit to take part in the Kona.
Dale says:
“I don’t have any direct involvement with SSAFA – not needed to use its services; not needed to access its support – but I am involved with The Ex-Forces Union CIC in Manchester, a grass-roots organisation lobbying for better recognition of veterans in this area and, eventually, the rest of the UK.
“If the Ex-Forces Union is dissolved, its assets go to SSAFA, so I wore jersey to get a bit of dialogue going, a bit of recognition for the cause, and it worked!”
Though Dale has not needed to approach SSAFA – the UK’s oldest tri-service charity – for support, each year thousands of veterans and serving personnel, and their families do, some 66,000 in 2021.
Anyone needing support can contact SSAFA’s Forcesline by following this link ssafa.org.uk/get-help/forcesline.
