A MILITARY enthusiast who stood on guard outside the Howard Centre on Saturday helped raise £1,700 for a little boy who is losing his sight.

Welwyn Garden City man Mark Bissett, 33, stood outside the shopping centre for 12 hours on Saturday to raise money for the British Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (BRPS).

He hopes the money will help four-year-old Welwyn Garden City boy Toby Addison, who is gradually losing his sight to retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic disease.

Mark, a friend of Toby's parents Nicky and Jon, stayed on the same spot for the whole day without eating or drinking.

He said: "It was an excellent day, my muscles were really aching from standing with a pack on my back but it was worth it.

"I'm going to do it again next year, and a few other people from the Napoleonic Association, which I'm a member of, have said they want to do it with me.

Shoppers donated nearly £1,000 during the day, and the rest of the money was donated through sponsorship. Shoppers were rewarded for their donations with colourful gerberas supplied by local florist Brickwall's.

Brickwall's owner Alister Martin, whose children helped hand out the flowers, said: "We spend all our time surrounded by something so visually wonderful, so this really brought home what Toby was losing. We've been quite struck by his story."

Doctors fear that Toby, who lives in Ploughmans End and attends nursery at Springmeads School, could lose his sight by the time he reaches his 20s.

He has already lost his peripheral vision but his parents say he is just as happy and independent as any other child.

Mum Nicky said: "One of the biggest things is that when Toby is older we don't want him to turn around and say It's your fault'. We want to be able to say to him that we did everything we could to raise money for more research into his condition. We'd really like to say thank you to Mark, to Brickwall's, to McDonald's for the food they supplied us with and to Specsavers, who held an RP month and raised £190."

Welwyn Hatfield MP Grant Shapps, who dropped by to visit Mark, said: "When I visited Mark at 1pm he was still going strong and I was amazed to hear that he planned to finish his 12 hour stint on guard without eating a thing."