Hoo Raa! We made it with us all returning home tired and weary but safe and very gratefull for the chance to see some of the most wonderful British countryside whilst raising an amazing amount of money for Parkinson's UK.

Thank you all for your very generous donations.

Four motorcyclists, Gary Jones, Allan Crisp, Steve Richardson and Keith Knee-Robinson from The Reading Male Voice Choir plus retired member Tony Evans have made the decision to Ride the Length of Britain, from Land’s End and The Lizard to John o’Groats and Dunnett Head, covering a distance from our home town and back of over 2200 miles in 10 days as a sponsored challenge to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK. We will be setting out from Reading on the morning of Sunday 16th June. The RMVC consists of over 70 members, many over retirement age, and two of our Choir suffer from the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s but continue to take part in most of our concerts. We bikers wanted to carry out this challenge as a means of raising awareness of Parkinson’s and to provide sponsors with a focus of our exploits over the period of 10 days.

 Within the South of England region there are:

·                     Approximately 4,800 people with Parkinson's, which is 1 in 500 of the population

·                     Over 25 local groups managed by volunteers

·                     Around 2,500 Parkinson's UK members

·                     13 specialist Parkinson's nurses, as well as 2 nurses with a special interest in Parkinson's

According to recent research the number of people with Parkinson's in the UK is set to rise by 28% by 2020 and there are currently 127,000 people with Parkinson's in the UK.

Parkinson's is a progressive neurological condition.  One person in every 500 is affected, which equates to about 127,000 people in the UK.  Most people who get Parkinson's are aged 50 or over but younger people can get it too. One in 20 is under the age of 40 when diagnosed.

People with Parkinson's don't have enough of a chemical called dopamine because some nerve cells in their brain have died.  Without dopamine people can find that their movements become slower so it takes longer to do things.  The loss of nerve cells in the brain causes the symptoms of Parkinson's to appear.

There's currently no cure for Parkinson's and it is not known why people get the condition. Parkinson's is a very individual condition, with each person experiencing different symptoms. Parkinson's doesn't directly cause people to die, but symptoms do get worse over time.

Parkinson’s UK is the biggest research and support charity for people affected by Parkinson’s. Our vision is to find a cure, and improve life for everyone affected by this condition.

Gary Jones, Allan Crisp, Steve Richardson and Keith Knee-Robinson, all members of the Reading Male Voice Choir, as well as Tony Evans, retired member, will be setting out on our motorbikes on Sunday 16 June 2013 to ride some 2200 miles over a period of ten days from End to End of the UK mainland – Land’s End and The Lizard to John o’Groats, Dunnet Head and Durness.

Our journey takes us through some of the most wonderful English and Scottish countryside and historic locations these include areas made famous by the Brontës, the Lorna Doone novel. We will be passing along the scenic roads of the north coast of Exmoor, Wenlock Edge, Cannock Chase, Derbyshire Peak District and High Peak, the Craven District and Yorkshire Dales and in Scotland the Pentland Hills, Strathyre and Strath Tay , Glen Shee and the Grampian Mountains, Culludon and the East, North and West coast of the Highlands.

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