PEWSEY’S oldest paper delivery boy David Benest, 61, has helped to raise more than £2,000 for charity through his paper round.

He was also planning to retire this year but has been persuaded to carry on.

Every day, the retired colonel, who has been awarded an OBE, gets up at sunrise, wraps up warm, dons his woolly hat and wellies and is joined by his faithful dogs Folly and Frodo as makes his way around the villages in Manningford delivering newspapers, including the Gazette.

Mr Benest, who lives with his wife Genevieve, has done this for the past year, raising funds for The Ulysses Trust, which was founded in 1992 by Philip Neame from Malmesbury and funds challenging expeditions for members of the Volunteer Reserve Forces and Cadet Forces in the UK.

In total, thanks to generous donations, Mr Benest, who was also chairman of Manningford Parish Council for four years, has raised £2,339.

He said: “In 2015, I have raised £1,200, my entire earnings from delivery of papers within the Manningfords. This has almost been doubled by the many generous donations from our residents, which takes the sum for this year well above £2,000 – not bad for a paper round.

“The Trust, whose Patron is HRH The Prince of Wales, attempts to engage young people from the Royal Navy, Army and Air Force cadet forces and Reservists in adventurous activities, such as mountaineering, rock climbing, sailing, canoeing and so on.

“This is essential character building with a strong emphasis on the development of teams and leadership, among both male and female participants, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“My intention was to stop newspaper deliveries at the end of 2015 in the hope that Martin’s newsagents would have found someone else to take this on. Alas, so far this has not happened. That being the case, and not wanting deliveries to collapse, I will continue as ‘paper boy’ in 2016.”

Mr Benest completed five years of operational duty in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1997, plus six years in the Ministry of Defence as technical sponsor for Counter Terrorism and Special Forces between 1986 and 2002.

He also carried out service in the Falklands War and has completed two short tours as counterinsurgency advisor in Afghanistan and has held every rank in The Parachute Regiment up to and including Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion 1994-7.

His paper round has also been helped by volunteers Robin Gamble, Dick Andrews, Gerry Quincy and David Wheen, who are known as ‘The Manningford Muskeeters’, as three of them are ex-forces.