Andrew Healey
Elsevier Exeter Aid to Sierra Leone
Fundraising for The Green Standards Trust
Story
SOLSTICE CYCLE 2008
***** UPDATE 23 June 2008 *****
We made it!!
Following a long day in the saddle the final group of 5 rolled into the car park at Lands End at 10.10pm having been on the road for nearly 18 hours! With the help of the sports drinks, energy bars and a few cans of Red Bull everyone who started managed to get to the finish intact.
There are a few sore legs still around, but thanks to all the sponsorship here on Just Giving as well as offline we are hoping to make it to our total, but will post here when we have counted all the bits and pieces.
A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR SPONSORS!
We received fantastic support from Exeter businesses:
The Bike Shed of Exeter, Crediton and Barnstaple (http://www.bikesheduk.com/ ) agreed to provide us with a box of spares, bits and bobs to keep us on the road during the ride, as well as servicing Andy's bike to keep him on the road.
Mike Warren of Cyclerama, Summer Lane, Exeter, discounted engineering expertise for John, Paul, George and Nick, making sure their machinery was in optimum condition.
Healthy Pulses of Sidwell Street, Exeter, (www.healthypulses.co.uk) very generously gave us a 5kg pot of Maximuscle Viper - 'energy, rehydration and electrolyte drink for sustained performance before and during exercise. Contains a carbohydrate blend plus minerals, taurine and BCAAs for improved recovery too'. They have been brilliant in helping us and the shop is packed with all sorts of sports nutrition and health food things, so drop in if you are passing, or order online.
Exeter Physio - Sports, Spinal and Rehabiliation Clinic (www.exeterphysio.co.uk) - managed to keep John on the road and on his bike thanks to a rigourous regime of therapy and exercises. Thankfully they have taken him from very doubtful right through to quietly confident about making it through to Lands End, for which we are all hugely grateful!
Bonds News, on the corner of Sidwell Street and Summerland Street in Exeter, also sponsored us to the tune of a case of Red Bull - to help give us wings when all we have is leaden legs! Massive thanks to Graham Bond for that.
The Team:
Andy Healey, Elsevier Exeter
John Bailey, Elsevier Exeter
Paul Crabtree, Elsevier Exeter
Nick Pym, Elsevier Exeter
George Pym (Nick's son)
Ian Hawley, Elsevier Oxford
Philip Hibberd, Elsevier Oxford
National Bike Week 2008, 14-22 June
We have now also registered our ride as an event for National Bike Week 2008 - see www.bikeweek.org.uk for more details on what that means. Hopefully, for us, it will mean more publicity and some free stickers!
Anyone else fancy it?
For more information about why we are doing this, please read on:
The Reason:
Here at the Exeter office of Elsevier Ltd we have been working with Grassington Primary School in North Yorkshire (http://www.grassington.n-yorks.sch.uk/index.htm) to raise funds in order to send a container of school equipment to the Eva Houston Preparatory School in Freetown, Sierra Leone (http://www.grassington.n-yorks.sch.uk/pages/sierraleone.htm).
In order to do this we are going to use the services of Green Standards and the Green Standards Trust (http://www.greenstandards.co.uk/gsnew/charity.asp) who, amongst other things, organise the recycling and reuse of office equipment and furniture here in the UK, redirecting it to schools both in the UK and overseas.
Please feel free to check out the links to find out more about our partners.
Basically we need £5000 to get the container on a ship and heading for Sierra Leone, but we currently have only £2500. If you can give ANYTHING, it will help towards that target.
Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world and is still getting back onto it's feet following the vicious civil wars of the 1990s. Anything we can do to help will have a huge impact on the children now, and hopefully on the country in the future.
The Event:
Saturday, June 21, 2008, is the longest day of the year, so there will be plenty of time for us to make it the 125 miles from Exeter to Lands End.
We have a back-up team in a minibus, and seven of us on our bikes, heading west over Dartmoor and down through Cornwall.
If you would like to join us, whether for our chosen cause or your own, then do feel free - any extra company would be very welcome. Just drop me an email at a.healey@elsevier.com and I will keep you posted on plans.
The Money:
Anything you give will go directly into this project funding, together with the Gift Aid 28% on top. You may not know us, or anything about us, but if you can give a few pounds, we will make sure that it is used effectively.
Please dig deep and sponsor us online.
Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: The Green Standards Trust will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.
So please sponsor us now!
Many thanks for your support.
Kind regards.
Andy Healey and John Bailey.