PRINCE WILLIAM VISITS ST DUNSTAN'S CENTER

PRINCE WILLIAM RECENTLY FOUND HE WAS WAY OFF-TARGET WHEN HE TURNED HIS HAND TO ARCHERY, BUT THEN HE WAS WEARING A BLINDFOLD. THE YOUNG PRINCE WAS VISITING A NEW TRAINING CENTER FOR BLIND EX-SERVICE PERSONNEL WHEN HE WAS INVITED TO FIRE ARROWS AT A TARGET WHILE COVERING HIS EYES. DESPITE GUIDANCE FROM CLIVE JONES, A FORMER WELSH GUARDSMAN AND INSTRUCTOR AT ST DUNSTAN'S CENTER IN LLANDUDNO, WALES, HE WAS UNABLE TO HIT HIS MARK WITH THREE ATTEMPTS. HOWEVER, HE DREW LAUGHTER FROM ONLOOKERS WHEN HE DISCOVERED HE WAS NO MORE ACCURATE WITH A FOURTH SHOT, DESPITE HAVING REMOVED THE BLINDFOLD. 'I'M GOING TO GIVE UP NOW BEFORE IT GETS TOO EMBARRASSING', THE PRINCE JOKED. MEANWHILE JONES WHO WAS BLINDED IN BOTH EYES IN AN OFF-DUTY ASSAULT, HIT THE TARGET ON ALL THREE OF HIS ARROWS. THE PRINCE, WHO IS CURRENTLY SERVING IN THE RAF, ALSO MET FORMER SERVICE PERSONNEL WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE NEW FACILITIES AT THE CHARITY'S GROUNDBREAKING NEW COMPLEX. JOINED BY GENERAL SIR RICHARD DANNATT, FORMER CHIEF OF THE GENERAL STAFF, THE PRINCE SPOKE TO IRAQ VETERANS SIMON BROWN, WHO WAS BLINDED BY SNIPER FIRE, AND CORPORAL CRAIG LUNDBERG, WHO LOST HIS SIGHT AFTER BEING HIT BY A ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE. BROWN SAID: 'WHEN I WAS LYING IN HOSPITAL I DIDN'T KNOW HOW I WAS GOING TO COPE. BUT THANKS TO THE SUPPORT AND SENSE OF BELONGING I RECEIVED FROM ST DUNSTAN'S COMMUNITY, I'VE GAINED MY CONFIDENCE.' EARLIER IN THE DAY, THE PRINCE VISITED LIVERPOOL'S ALDER HEY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL TO UNVEIL A £3 MILLION MRI SCANNER, WHICH WILL ALLOW SURGEONS TO ATTEMPT LIFE-SAVING PROCEDURES. HE TOLD SION MEREDITH, A SEVEN YEAR OLD BRAIN TUMOR PATIENT, HOW HE WAS 'SCARED' WHEN HE HAD AN MRI SCAN AT THE AGE OF EIGHT. IN 1991, THE PRINCE WAS STRUCK ON THE HEAD WITH A GOLF CLUB AT HIS SCHOOL IN LUDGROVE AND WAS TAKEN TO THE ROYAL BERKSHIRE HOSPITAL IN READING. HE WAS THEN TRANSFERRED BY AMBULANCE TO LONDON'S GREAT ORMOND STREET HOSPITAL AND IT EMERGED HE HAD SUFFERED A DEPRESSED FRACTURE OF THE FOREHEAD. THE PRINCE NOW AFFECTIONATELY CALLS HIS WOUND HIS 'HARRY POTTER SCAR'.