Hi all! Craig and Faupel are cycling to Paris!

All 250 miles…. Which is 250 miles more than Faupel has ridden a bike in 20 years. In fact, he doesn’t even currently own one – but we’ll get some bikes, should be fine...

At the end of July, we’ll be taking on the challenge to raise awareness and support for a cause that’s very important to us. The charity we have chosen to support is called Ukraine Charity (RCN 1163036, https://ukrainecharity.org/). Ukraine Charity was established in 2007 to aid children, young people, women, and vulnerable individuals in Ukraine. Given the ongoing humanitarian crisis, brought about by the Russian invasion, their current focus is on raising funds for emergency medical supplies for hospitals throughout the country.

Obviously, with my (Craig’s) girlfriend being Ukrainian and having many students at Influential English School also from Ukraine, we are all too aware it’s a situation that has devastated millions of people and still is to this day. For anyone who really wants to get an idea of what’s happening, we urge you to watch the award winning documentary, “20 Days in Mariupol” which won the Sundance World Cinema Documentary competition in 2023 and then an Oscar this year. It has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and shows the reality of what is happening in Ukraine right now - not an easy watch we should warn you. This war has been going on for a long time now, but it's now more important than ever to support the Ukrainian people in this horrendous unprovoked attack. If we were placed in a position like this, you would hope that everyone around us would jump to our aid.

So we have decided to saddle up and cycle to France to raise some money and show our support. We will be funding the trip entirely ourselves, so your entire contribution will go towards the important work that Ukraine Charity are doing. Every donation, no matter how small, will make a difference. James' work will also be doubling the amount we raise up to £2,000, hence our initial target amount - but we've achieved that in just two weeks so have set our sights even higher now!! Craig is organising an Influential English School social event to help support the cause too, so watch this space. All donations on our JustGiving page will be hugely appreciated.

We will be documenting our trip throughout the week, starting at Influential English School, and finishing under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. For those of you that know us, you will be fully aware that this will not be a smooth ride and there will be many hilarious bumps along the way. And any keen cyclists, your advice is appreciated as cycling is not an area of expertise for either of us!

Thanks in advance to all of you who make a donation!

Craig and Faupel