Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Our mother was truly inspirational and a real fighter, she would never give up, often sacrifixing everything for us and helping those a lot less fortunate than us. She achieved so much in her lifetime, often overcoming so many political, educational, sexist, ageist, physical, emotional and personal obstacles to ensure that 'It's not possible', was never the answer or end result.

20 years ago leading up to my 40th and my mum's 65th birthdays, we decided to have a joint photographic exhibition in London to celebrate and it was inspired by my mum's idea to call it 'If not now, when?'. She would often pose this question, not just to herself, but to us, and it's now become my inspiration to my teenage boys and for achieving things personally that most would give up on.

Who am I/we hoping to raise money for?
So, to cut a long story short, 'If not now, when?', is both the inspiration and name behind our team of four riders who have entered the Prudential 100, Surrey bike ride (aka 100 miles). Great friends Simon Hutton, Mark Taylor and Victor Pajak will be riding and trying to raise much needed funds for the hospitals, nurses, doctors and carers, who all looked after my mother durying the later years of her life in Oxford. They often made her well, got her back on her feet and through their positivity, gave my mum and us more time to enjoy together.

Finally, when she suffered a massive stroke whilst returning to Oxford University in January 2017, to start a new creative writing course, the Stroke Unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital (0399), treated our mother with utmost respect, care, dignity and love, as she fought so hard to to hold on to her life, after being paralyzed from her neck down, losing most bodily fuctions including speech. Even then, when we were told she only had hours to live, she held on to life for another three weeks... she was a true fighter!

How the donating works...
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. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Simon Hutton will also be riding for charities close the his heart, so feel free to see his story, inspiration and donate to them too via the additional link below:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SomeoneSpecial/teamhutton