Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

On 14 July 2013 myself and a number of club mates from Seamons Cycling Club will be taking part in the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride to raise funds for The Christie charity.

As we are all regular cyclists we thought we would raise the bar a bit and so we are going to ride back as well!  The total distance will be 130 miles which will be the furthest that I have ever ridden in one day so it really will be a challenge.

For those that don’t know I thought I might explain what “The Christie” is and why I am raising money for them.

The Christie charity, support the incredible work of The Christie hospital which is a leading centre in cancer care, research and education. They have been pioneering cancer research breakthroughs for over 100 years and remain committed to helping all those affected by cancer. Both now and in the future. The vital funds raised by the charity help to make The Christie more than 'just a hospital', making it the special place it is.

They focus on developing and supporting four key areas -

• Providing the best care and treatment for patients
• Using clinical trials and research to make major breakthrough
• Increasing the understanding of cancer through education
• Helping patients and their families by offering extra support

The Christie charity raise money to fund projects at The Christie that lie outside the scope of the NHS, including advanced facilities such as the patient treatment centre and the clinical trials unit.

I hope you will agree that this is a good cause but you may be wondering why specifically I am raising money for them? 

The answer is a simple one. One of my club mates rode the Manchester to Blackpool in 2003 only 18 weeks after brain surgery to remove a large meningioma. Since then he has enjoyed ten years of pretty good life, got back in cycling and brought others, including myself into cycling with the club.

Earlier this year he had a check-up with his consultant at Christies. Dreadfully this has identified another tumour growing.  He is waiting to hear from his consultant as to what they want to do next but rather that getting too down about it he has decided to take positive action. So he is riding the Manchester to Blackpool again and has asked as many as of club mates as possible to join him and raise money for Christies to research childhood treatments so that young people don't have to go through what he has gone through.

It’s a moving story and one that I am proud to support.

I appreciate that lots of people are raising money for good causes and that we all have limited budgets so please don’t feel obliged but if you'd like to support us then donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate what you can afford.

Thanks in advance for whatever support you can give.

Andy Guest