TOM Rose of Malvern, aged 75, has just completed his fifth London Marathon, despite having a bad fall, landing on his face and crossing the finishing line with it all bandaged up.

His daughter, Hannah Rose, who went to London to support her father said: “It was quite eventful for dad!

“He ran with my brother, Thomas Rose. They were doing well until about mile 20. Then Tom, my dad, had a fall, he tripped on some rubbish on the track and landed on his face.

“He was given first aid by St John’s Ambulance and they told him he was unable to continue with the race. Him being the stubborn man he is, wouldn’t listen; he wouldn’t let the charity or himself down.”

Tom, who was running in aid of the Royal British Legion, has been the ‘Poppy man’ for part of Malvern for 16 years, delivering all of the poppy boxes and collecting them in every year in the Barnards Green area. Thomas Rose, Hanna’s brother was also ran raising money for the British Legion.

Hannah said: “When dad fell the St John’s Ambulance people dressed his face and cleaned some of the blood from his face, hands and knees and told him that if he won’t take advice and continued then he shouldn’t run as that could make the bleeding worse.

“Myself and the children were waiting at mile 25, we could see the time between check points had suddenly dropped and they had lost half an hour from the pace they had set for the first 20 miles. We assumed they had started to walk so when they ran past and we saw his face all bandaged it was a big shock.

“When my niece had seen them at mile 19 she had said they both looked well and not too tired.

“Anyway, he ploughed on and made it to the finish in just under six hours. He has raised £721 so far but still has monies coming in.

“I’m so proud of him for carrying on even though he suffered such a bang to the face. He really is an inspiration!”

Tom’s six-year-old granddaughter, Jessica Innes, had been busy raising money to support him by selling bracelets that she made. 

The family live in Jamaica Road, Malvern and Jessica and her brother, Archie Innes, aged eight, go to Somers Park Primary school.

Hannah said: “It was heartwarming seeing my daughter Jess make the bracelets and want to raise as much money as possible to help support her grandad. She is a special girl.”

Tom Rose lives in Highfield Road, Malvern. He is a retired electrical engineer as well as other things. He was in the Army, serving with REME and was a paratrooper and commando trained. He has done multiple walks and previous marathons to raise money for the Royal British Legion.

Hannah said: “He trains regularly on the Malvern Hills My brother trains with him.

Tom said: “My daughter Hannah has supported my annual Poppy Appeal fundraising over the years, delivering boxes, manning stalls and counting the money collected. The people and shops of Barnards Green have always been very generous in their support.”

Tom has a page on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/busyfish.busyfish

 and his Just Giving page is https://royalbritishlegion.enthuse.com/pf/tom-rose