Captain Tom: How Bedford helped make war veteran a 'global hit'

Donations from Captain Tom Moore's nearest town have "helped make him the global sensation he is", a fundraising website has said.

Captain Tom Moore, 99, initially aimed to raise £1,000 by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

The total has since grown to more than £23m, with Bedford in the top 10 major UK towns and cities for donations.

"The inclusion of Bedford is fascinating as that's the nearest town to Captain Tom," JustGiving said.

"It shows how the local population have helped make him the global sensation he is," added a spokesman.

Bedford has a population of about 87,000 within its traditional boundary

Bedford is eight miles north of Capt Tom's home in Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, where he completed his 100th lap on Thursday.

It was the highest-ranked town in JustGiving's top 10 of donations - all those above Bedford were cities.

Mayor Dave Hodgson said it was known as a "warm and generous town".

"It's been amazing to see the incredible amount of money raised for the NHS by Capt Tom and people not just in Bedfordshire, but across the whole country," added Mr Hodgson.

JustGiving - which has revealed the statistics behind Capt Tom's fundraiser on the day he completed his challenge - also named Bedford as the most generous town in the UK in 2014.

The river Great Ouse runs through Bedford

Capt Tom's story also reached around the globe - with more than 890,000 donations received from 144 countries, almost three-quarters of all nations of the world.

As he finished the challenge to raise money NHS Charities Together, he said it was "an absolutely fantastic sum of money" and was described as a "one-man fundraising machine" by the Duke of Cambridge.

JustGiving used to take a 5% fee from donations but said since March of last year it had no longer charged "platform fees" but offered donors the opportunity to make a voluntary contribution, giving "users the choice to support the operation of the platform through a voluntary donation".

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