A FORMER soldier from Cwmbran is getting ready to run 100km to raise money for a military charity that helped him when he began losing his sight.

This Saturday, Charlie Parkinson, 38, and close friend, Ben Black, 38, will leave London for Brighton, covering 100km, in an effort to raise awareness of Blind Veterans UK - a military charity which supports visually impaired veterans.

Mr Parkinson hopes to completed it in 17 and a half hours but added that finishing is the main thing.

He served as a Kingsman (the equivalent of a private) in the First Battalion of the King’s Regiment in Liverpool between 1995 and 2003.

His time in the service took him as far afield as Jordan and Cyprus.

He suffered from glaucoma in 2010 and over the course of three years, his sight deteriorated to the point that he now has just 10 per cent vision in his right eye with a prosthetic in his left eye.

Mr Parkinson, who grew up in the Wirral, lived in Cwmbran between the ages of seven and 14, moved back to the area in 2010.

He is taking part in a series of challenges and completed the Brighton Half Marathon in February.

To donate visit www.justgiving.com/Charliechallenges