No bridge is too far for fundraising descendant

His ancestors were heroes of Waterloo and the Second World War - and one was immortalised by Michael Caine in A Bridge Too Far.

Now the man in charge of the Army in Edinburgh is to revisit the places where his forebears served, on a fundraising bike ride to help injured troops.

Colonel Simon Vandeleur, 53, is joining the Help for Heroes ride from Brussels to Arnhem to raise funds for forces charity Help for Heroes.

On the 350-mile trip, the group will pause at both Waterloo and "Joe's Bridge", which was named after his great uncle, Brigadier John Ormsby Evelyn "Joe" Vandeleur.

Brigadier Vandeleur defended the bridge in northern Belgium ahead of Operation Market Garden, the doomed attempt to capture a series of bridges and advance the Allied approach into Germany.

The operation, which failed at the Battle of Arnhem, saw thousands of parachutists dropped behind enemy lines in the hope of ending the war by Christmas 1944. It became renowned as the largest airborne battle in history and was dramatised in A Bridge Too Far, with Michael Caine as Brigadier Vandeleur.

Col Vandeleur said: "He was my godfather and great uncle - he was commander of the First Batallion Irish Guards in 1944.

"Before Operation Market Garden started they needed to capture a bridge over the Escaut Canal. The Germans were withdrawing and Uncle Joe wasn't clear what his commanders intended but he knew this was an important bridge and he seized it. There were two days of German attacks but they hung on to it and that enabled Operation Market Garden to start."

When Michael Caine was cast in the Brigadier's role in A Bridge Too Far, the actor stayed with him for a week to aid his research, but didn't make a good impression, according to Col Vandeleur: "That generation of guards officer were quite old-fashioned and he thought Michael Caine was a bit of an oik, but actually Michael Caine played him quite well in terms of his mannerisms."

As well as stopping at Joe's Bridge to pay their respects, the cyclists will visit Waterloo, where another of Col Vandeleur's ancestors, Major General John Ormsby Vandeleur, saw military service, commanding a Light Cavalry Brigade in 1815.

But it was not just his family connections that made Col Vandeleur want to take part in the ride.

He said: "I'm the Army Commander here in Edinburgh and we've got a new personnel recovery centre at Erskine.

"It's the first one in the UK and we're going to set up four more in the rest of the UK. The MoD can't pay for them all because they're really expensive.

"Help for Heroes have given them 7 million, so I thought I should help - though my wife thinks it's a mid-life crisis.

"I'm going to leave the Army next year and I think it's a way of being able to put something back into the system."

Col Vandeleur, who is based at Edinburgh Castle and lives in Ravelston Dykes, has already raised 8000 in sponsorship and hopes the 200-strong team of riders will raise more than 1 million in total.

The cyclists, who set off from Brussels yesterday, are due to finish their ride in Arnhem on Saturday, where they will take part in a weekend of remembrance.