A PENSIONER took part in a 10km walk to raise hundreds of pounds for the Royal British Legion.

Jim Cousins, 84, is Secretary of the Burnham branch of the Royal British Legion and organiser of the town’s annual Poppy Appeal.

On Sunday, Mr Cousins and his son Jeremy took part in the annual London Poppy Walk in aid of the RBL, who provide support to members of the British Armed Forces and their families.

The 10km walk takes those participating through historic London from St Paul’s Cathedral down Fleet Street, through Temple onto the Embankment and then back up Whitehall across Trafalgar Square and along Strand finishing back at St Paul’s.

Along the way, participants take part in a quiz highlighting both well-known and obscure landmarks of London.

The focus of this year’s walk was on centenary of the foundation of the Royal Air Force and the route went past the RAF 100 display on Horse Guards Parade.

Mr Cousins and his son raised more than £300 for the Royal British Legion and both will be doing further fundraising by playing their parts in the annual Poppy Appeal, with Jim organising the appeal and Jeremy doing door to door sales.

Jeremy Cousins said: “My dad has done so much for the Royal British Legion over the years and when I saw an advert for the Poppy Walk I thought it would be nice surprise to sign us both up.

“It was gorgeous day and it was really interesting to walk through some of the back alleys of London and discover monuments that I walk past every day, and in the past my dad has, without realising they are there, such as the memorial for Heroic Self Sacrifice near St Paul’s and memorial to Edith Cavell, a British nurse in the First World War who saved the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination, who was shot by a German firing squad for helping some 200 allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.”