Veteran Raymond Brooks marks 100th birthday with charity ride

A World War Two veteran has celebrated his 100th birthday by completing a lockdown charity cycling challenge.

Raymond Brooks has been riding his exercise bike for 15 minutes each day since the start of the first lockdown in March 2020, at his home in Winford on the Isle of Wight.

He placed his bike by his window to update passers-by on his progress.

Mr Brooks has so far raised more than £1,700 for Blind Veterans UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.

He joined the Territorial Army in 1938 and was called up 10 days before the start of World War Two, during which he served in Egypt, Italy and the Middle East.

"I used to do a lot of cycling, but in recent years I haven't and when lockdown started my daughters said, 'You have an exercise bike, why don't you use it?'"

He decided to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, whose nurses had helped his wife who died 18 years ago.

"The Macmillan nurses were absolutely brilliant, they were so kind and nice," he said.

"I thought under the present circumstances, with the Covid business, they need all the help they can get as they will be needed more than ever."

The former gunner is also supporting blind veterans for whom he has been fundraising since 1971.

When asked how he has remained so fit and healthy to reach 100, he said: "I haven't got a clue, it just happened. I am very lucky."

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].