The streets of Helensburgh rang with the pounding feet of the HMS Neptune Field Gun Crew when they started collecting for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS).

The team have already equalled last year’s total with £700 which they plan to double with a run through the Clyde Naval Base at Faslane in Scotland.

They have been unable to do a public run this year, as the date of the Faslane Fair clashed with the Collingwood Field Gun competition down on the South Coast of England.

The team came fifth last year but their aim was higher for the 2003 competition, and trainers CPOs Charlie McKee and Gary Nicolson have been putting the 18-man team through their paces since the end of April, readying the group for the tough task of pulling the one-tonne field gun through the gruelling event.

The run involves the crew carrying the various elements of the gun across a demanding course containing obstacles including a chasm, putting the gun together, then carrying it back over the course in order to fire three rounds of ammunition.

It is only once the three loud reports have sounded that the team has finished.

Each member of the team has a precise role, and perfect timing is crucial – the winner of the field gun is decided by hundredths of a second.