POOLE Royal Marines recently returned from the heat and horror of Afghanistan were among those rattling cans to raise funds for their comrades.

A temporary military base was set up in Poole’s Dolphin Shopping Centre with an inflatable boat, camouflaged motorbike and quadbike, manned by serving, past and aspiring Royal Marines.

The Royal Marine Association of Poole and District was hopeful of beating the £1,300 raised in donations from shoppers at last year’s flag day for its Charitable Trust Fund.

Chairman Geoff Haywood, 69, said last year the fund paid out £1.5m to provide help for everything from solar mobile phone chargers and CD players for those on operations, to a prosthetic leg to help a badly wounded serviceman climb Mt Kilimanjaro.

“Sadly it supports the families of the guys that may be lost out there,” said the former Sergeant-Major of the Landing Craft Company, who during the Falklands looked after the families, helping some cope with tragedy.

The Afghan campaign has seen the tragic losses of John Thornton from Ferndown, inset right, of 40 Commando who died in March 2008 when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb, and Sgt Luke Taylor from Burton, inset left, shot dead by an Afghan soldier in March.

But it has also left 23 Royal Marines with life-changing injuries. “It’s the unseen injuries that is what the fund is about,” said Geof. “It’s about helping people with injuries and ensuring the families of the deceased are not forgotten.

“More people have died by committing suicide since the Falklands than were killed during the campaign,” he added.

L/Cpl Martin Whittle, 38, from RM Reserve Poole returned from six months in Afghanistan last Nov-ember, attached to 42 Commando.

“It’s a different role out there now, it’s more of a policing role,” he said.

“We are helping the Afghans and paying them to keep their fields safe but as soon as we stop, their fields will be seeded with IEDs (improvised explosive devices).”

Marine Matt Taylor, 24, who has recently returned from his second tour, was doing re-supply work from Camp Bastion.

“We have metal detectors but they rebury the IEDs so fast,” he said. “It’s almost professional.”

But the dangers do not deter youngsters like RM Cadet Josh Martino, 15, from wanting to earn his green beret after he has completed his education.

“If the Afghan war is still on I would like to support the guys and go to Afghanistan,” he said.

Among those also rattling cans to raise funds was Poole Mayor, Cllr Graham Wilson, and association president Major Stuart Syrad, the corps first hovercraft pilot, who ran the SBS for four years.

l The corps celebrates its 350th anniversary in 2014 and by then aims to have raised a £6m fund.