I am once again taking part in the annual Ride+Stride. All donations are shared equally between my nominated church (St Mary's, Kingswood) and the GHCT.

I will be joining the same group as two years ago, when I visited 11 churches in the Tetbury area and travelled over 30 miles. The expedition lasted 6 hours and included a lunch break and some longer stops.

This is partly a personal challenge to do more exercise as I sit at a desk or on the sofa most of the time. But there is a far more important reason for you to donate ...

Why do I think this is worth doing? The cost of maintaining historic stone buildings such as St Mary's Church is very high and often cannot be borne by the congregations that use them. They are of value to the entire community for their beauty, their historical significance and for the religious purposes such as weddings, baptisms, funerals and regular services, not to mention individual prayer and retreat, and burial. The GHCT is there to support the maintenance of the buildings, their contents and the surrounding churchyards.

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 and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer.

There is more about St Mary's on their website at https://stmaryskingswood.org.uk/