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Hello and Welcome from TVP and Pals Amsterdam Road Trip
Welcome to our new fundraising page.
May 2010 saw our original team of seven riders cycle from London to Paris, raising just short of £5000 for H4H and this year we are joined by three more keen riders to train and ride even harder to raise more money for the men and women who have put themselves in harm's way on our behalf and also Daisy's Dream - a fabulous, Berkshire charity based in Twyford which provides an amazing range of support to bereaved children.
Make no mistake, we are keen cyclists rather than athletes but this year's ride is a little tougher than last year's, taking in three European countries including a 160 mile stretch of the North Sea Cycle Route along the West coast of The Netherlands. At about 360 miles over five days, we plan to squeeze 11 people and 10 bikes in a van and get ourselves to Paris before setting off to Amsterdam via Amien, Ypres, Bruges, Hellevoetsluis (near Rotterdam) and The Hague on the way.
Our group consists of Inspector Greg Elphick, Inspector Emily Roberts, Sergeant Dave Arnold, Inspector Jackie Keyser and Detective Inspector Steve Jenkins (support driver), Supt Tony Ismay and me - all Thames Valley Police officers - and Karen Shaya, Michel Branet, Damian Cox and Michael Thijm - parents of Abbey School children, Reading and all great mates.
Daisy's Dream is the nominated charity of Maria Keane, wife of Mike who sadly lost his battle with cancer in June 2009 at a tragically young age, leaving behind Maria and their two, wonderful, daughters; Hannah and Libby. Mike was a serving sergeant with Thames Valley Police and a very close friend of mine. He was besotted by his family and passionate about his work.
We are entirely self supporting and covering transport, equipment and accommodation costs out of our own pockets to maximise the benefit to charity. Thrifty Van Rentals of Reading have very kindly agreed again to supply a suitably huge van at a substantial discount - thanks!
The plan includes a good few training rides and 'bucket collection' fundraising at places with lots of people e.g. supermarkets & shopping centres, pedalling away on turbo trainers so you may just see our Lycra clad bodies over the coming months! A number of the team including me raised a fantastic £392.08 in The Oracle Shopping Centre between on Saturday 4th June and will be repeating our efforts between 12pm and 4pm on Sunday 12th June, again in The Oracle - we would appreciate as much support as possible!
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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now!
Thank you for your support.
Stuart and the team
