KEELBY based, Villages Unite, did just that to raise vital funds for a charity close to their hearts.

The second annual Village Gala Day – which brings a host of fun activities to the village – raised an astonishing £10,000 for Help For Heroes.

Villagers Unite was formed following the death of Keelby soldier, Corporal Graeme Stiff, 24, who died whilst on patrol in Afghanistan in March 2009.

The Gala is the group's main fundraising event, featuring traditional village fete games like egg throwing and tug of war, and even a wheelchair basketball tournament led by Graham Birkett, 43, of Riby.

The former Keelby resident was left paralysed from the waist down after he was in a car crash in 1993 and now uses a wheelchair.

As well as raising money, he hoped to raise awareness of the trials faced by people with disabilities by rallying round able-bodied villagers to battle it out on the basketball court in wheelchairs.

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