SCOTTISH singing duo The Proclaimers accompanied a fundraiser yesterday as he completed a 500-mile wheelchair challenge for charity at a North Yorkshire RAF base.

Craig and Charlie Reid walked alongside former RAF Regiment gunner Sean Allerton, of Sherburn-in-Elmet, as he wheeled the final mile around RAF Church Fenton near Tadcaster.

Then they walked another mile with him as he immediately set off on a fresh challenge to wheel a further 500 miles.

The Proclaimers – whose most famous song is I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) – had travelled down from Scotland to North Yorkshire to join him, having already been there once before last summer when he set off on his quest.

Flight Lieutenant Dave Williams said Sean had travelled the distance in stages at several RAF bases, mainly Church Fenton, on non-flying days and evenings.

He had raised more than £8,000 for six charities, the RAF Benevolent Fund, the Royal Air Forces Association, the RAF Charitable Trust, Flying Scholarships for Disabled People, Aerobility and the Forgotten Heroes.

Sean, who is in his late 40s, was involved in a motorcycle crash whilst serving at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus in 1993, and broke his neck and lost the use of his limbs and torso.

He set himself the Push 500 Wheelchair Challenge to give something back to the charities that helped him the most while he was coming to terms with his life-changing situation.

The Reids are patrons of Forgotten Heroes, which aims to support the carers of injured servicemen and women and Sean decided that while they would walk 500 miles, he couldn’t but he could push himself along, with no assistance, in a normal wheelchair.