A VETERAN who is dependent on a wheelchair to get around her home, has successfully cycled down a Scottish mountain – headfirst.

Anita Bartram, from Kirkbymoorside, completed the mass-start endurance race, known as MacAvalanche, down the snow-capped Glencoe in Scotland as a member of a Help for Heroes team of wounded, injured and sick veterans and service personnel.

She was the only female team member and, at 54, the oldest too.

“It was brilliant,” said the former Army nurse. “I used an off-road handtrike which I had to kneel on and go head first, at speeds of almost 40mph. I had a good team behind me and just thought the whole thing was amazing.

“It’s something I never thought I would do and, after MacAvalanche, I am desperately looking for something else to challenge myself.”

Anita was medically discharged from the QA Royal Army Nursing Corps after just over five years’ service, after an operation to repair neck and arm problems resulting from a car accident, went wrong.

With help from the Help for Heroes’ Recovery Centre in Catterick, Anita has started to try other new activities and grow in confidence.

Among her achievements was plucking up the courage to play her tenor horn in public for the first time in almost 25 years by joining the Kirkbymoorside Community Band.

The former Ryedale School pupil said: “Music has been an enjoyment of mine for a long time – it relaxes me. Going back to a band has been just great - being part of a team, learning new things and feeling useful gives me a sense of achievement and quite a buzz.

“I went back feeling very apprehensive and started playing second horn parts. Now, I am playing solo horn parts and thoroughly enjoying it – and playing is helping my chest problem as well.”