A LOCAL restaurateur is to face a major challenge in his bid to raise more than £75,000 for the recently launched UK Forces Gulf Fund.

Dean-Paul Phillips, 23, will be putting his best foot forward from May 1 to walk a staggering 3,000 miles from his home in Chawton to the oil fields of Kuwait.

A first for Dean, the aim is not just to raise money and support for the dependents of UK troops in the Gulf, but to highlight the plight of the 60 Kuwaitis who were lost in the last Gulf War and never returned.

As well as local sponsorship - and he has £1,000 already - DeanÕs aim is to attract 25 businesses nationwide to sponsor him a £1 a mile which would generate the sort of money he is hoping to raise.

Well known in Alton for his local fundraising efforts, among them his skill in making indestructible pancakes for the townÕs annual pancake race, this latest venture is already earning Dean national press coverage.

He was at the London launch last Wednesday of the Daily Express fund in support the Gulf heroes.

At the launch he found himself among the few who have positive plans to help provide extra support for families of those who made sacrifices in liberating the Iraqi people.

The fund is expected to run for a year, helping families who have suffered financial hardship because of the war in which 31 British fighters have died.

For Dean, who is currently undertaking a career break prior to joining the Thames Valley Constabulary, the UK Forces Gulf Fund presented the challenge he was looking for.

ÒI believe everybody should do something meaningful in their lives to tell their grandchildren, and this is my bit. I have raised money for charity before, but nothing close to this.Ó

While he had thought of several money-making ploys, the decision to walk from England to Òthe war zoneÓ struck him as being the most appropriate.

Working to a tight timescale, Dean has already secured sponsorship for backpacks, food and equipment and is currently hoping to strike a deal with a major clothes company. His most pressing need, however, is cost of living sponsorship.

He is also awaiting confirmation of a forces Ògarden leaveÓ support crew who will travel ahead of him in a lorry and help provide safe passage, especially in the Òhot zonesÓ. If the support crew fails to materialise he is even prepared Òto rough itÓ. But with the amount of supplies required en route he is hoping not to have to resort to such dire measures.

The plan at the moment is to set off on May 1. The last part of the route, which will have to be decided Òon the hoofÓ, will take him through the more troubled areas of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and on to Kuwait. There is even talk that he may be granted passage through Iraq itself but that too is subject to further negotiation.

While the journey is expected to take up to four months to complete, Dean feels the challenge will not come from the distance and time involved but from learning to live with his own company. Nor does he speak any languages - but he is undeterred.

He will also be keeping a diary with a view to writing a book on his return.

Dean has already charted a route so that wife, Alison, can follow his progress on a map at home, and he will carry a GPS tracker to help him find the most direct line across territory where roads appear lost or meandering.

His trade mark, he says, is a hat which has already earned him the nickname ÒIndiana JonesÓ, and it is likely to be one that sticks as he treks across Europe and the Middle East in support of the British and Kuwaiti cause.

Dean Phillips would be delighted to hear from anyone willing to sponsor his UK Forces Gulf Fund trek on 01420 84935.