On Sunday September  7, The Cliffes - David and Delia and their sons Dan, Ed and Matt - will attempt the Manchester 100k cycle ride to raise money for the Meningitis Research Foundation who have provided superb support for our family.

Why? Earlier this year our ten-year-old niece Beren tragically died of meningitis - just hours earlier she had been enjoying the fun of a friend's birthday party.

We now want to do something in memory of Beren. We hope to raise funds for the Foundation but also to spread the word about the need to be alert for the symptoms of meningitis and septicaemia which can affect all ages. Please check these out on
www.meningitis.org

Help us to help to prevent more unnecessary deaths.
Thanks for visiting our fundraising page.

Donating through Justgiving is quick, easy and totally secure. It’s also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Meningitis Research Foundation gets your money faster and, if you’re a UK taxpayer, Justgiving makes sure 25% in Gift Aid, plus a 3% supplement, are added to your donation.

So please sponsor us now!

August 16 - latest news

We are delighted to announce that our biking 'family' now includes Delia's colleagues from CJ Royle Opticians, Sue Cutts, Neil Horn and his brother Lee.  What a team!

All the money raised will be donated in memory of Beren Rowbotham and Thomas Horn, also taken by meningitis in 2000 aged 4

September 1 update

Great news - we have powered past our original £1,000 target thanks to your donations. Therefore we have decided to raise our target a little in the hope that our super-supporters will help us make it happen,

Keep it coming!

Good luck to Beren's dad Daniel ,Jen and their friends who will be doing a parachute jump 20th September. Have a look at their web page www.justgiving.com/danielrowbotham to see how they are doing.

Sunday September 7

We've done it! The whole team has had a fine day's ride around the Cheshire lanes, blessedly mostly flat and only wet for half an hour.

Full details when we've recovered a little - but in the meantime, 2000+ thanks to the sponsors who have made our efforts so worthwhile.

Our day in the saddle

The day started ominously when David reversed his car into Dan's and wrote off Dan's bike. Bravely (or as a penance) David did the whole ride on Delia's old girly purple bike with dodgy gears.

Waiting at the start line we thought Sue had chickened out but Neil managed to coax her away from her flask(of coffee?) and we set off at 9 am.

The men whizzed off but Sue and Delia set a steady pace. The first official stop came around quite quickly and miraculously no rain. The route was well signposted and mostly flat so far.

Lee finished in 3hr 22 just about when Sue and Delia caught up with the Cliffes at canalside pub in Middlewich. Half hour break then back to the pedalling. Neil, who finished in 4hr 12 on his shiny new bike, said: "I feel like a stunt man from Brokeback Mountain". Buy a gel saddle next time!

Now the fit lycra -clad 100-mile route cyclists started to overtake us which was entertaining and Sue did her best to pull so she obviously was finding the cycling easy, and even started to overtake some people up the hills.(Yes there are some hills in Cheshire).

Meanwhile Dan and Ed crossed the finish line at 6hr 30 - Ed's chain coming off a few feet from the line and needing a helping hand from Dan. They were closely followed by Matt with aching-kneed David 20 minutes after (Later seen collapsed on the grass).

Just needed to wait for the girls .........7hr 15 Delia and Sue came in fresh and ready to go round again!!

What a good friendly atmosphere and brilliant day out, sorry to Dave G and Tanya for waking you up at 7am on Sunday, well done to the team and a BIG thank you to everyone who has sponsored us.

And finally well done to Dan who came up from London especially to take part only to see his new bike trashed and his hire car dented - but he was unfazed by it all .