Hello!

For our annual charity bike ride this year, we are going to
be attempting the 531-mile ride from Manchester to John O Groats for the Mat
Davis foundation and a very special person in particular…

Firstly, The Mat Davis foundation is a wonderful
organisation that positively impacts the lives of several young people in the
Warwick area and is the legacy of Mat Davis, an inspirational person, who was
diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour in 2009, aged 20. In the face of the
ultimate adversity he chose to raise both awareness and money for Cancer
Research and organised several fundraisers, very courageously attempting to
cycle from Lands’ End to John O’Groats. Unfortunately, he came off his bike in
Manchester after suffering a seizure and as a result he ended up in hospital
and never got to finish his journey; we aim to amend this in August.

Today The Mat Davis foundation helps young people immensely
in Warwickshire in various ways, my school, Aylesford, has benefitted
enormously from their support over the last few years and after they sponsored
our football tour to Germany, I felt I had to do something to give back and
thank them.

The Mat Davis Foundations primary aim, however, is to
provide relief to young people who have been diagnosed with cancer and
devastatingly, the urgency to raise as much money as possible has increased in
the last couple of months.      

This is where I introduce Jess. Jess is a 17-year-old girl
from Warwick who I have coached for the last 3 years, representing Warwickshire
U18s Ladies rugby team. Jess is known by everyone for her spirit, kicking and
playmaking ability on the field (even though she plays in the front row!) and
for being loyal, resilient and lovably bonkers off it!

At the start of May, Jess was diagnosed with a brain tumour,
by the start of June, the nightmare scenario was completed when Jess was told
that it was terminal.

Gutted by the news, it occurred to me the best way that
I could help would be to put Jess in touch with The Mat Davis Foundation,
providing her and her family with the support they need through this time. In
addition, the funds raised on this ride will hopefully enable Jess and her
family to enjoy a holiday together. I know that one of Jesses favourite places
is New York and so we are setting the bar high and aiming to raise at least
£2500, to cover all the costs.

I hope that you will see that every penny that can be raised
could go to an amazing cause and make a real difference to someone’s life
during the toughest of times.

Thank you so much for your support, it will mean the world
to a lot of people.

Sam, Nick, Tim, Mike, Ally, Jack and Mukesh