The Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride raises vital sponsorship for The Connection at St Martin’s in the Fields in their work with people who are rough sleeping, to help them move away from, and stay off, the streets of London.

At its Day Centre in Adelaide Street, just by Trafalgar Square, The Connection provides support, advice and case management to help people to search for and get into work, and to access accommodation. They work long term with people whose journey away from the streets may be affected by mental health issues, substance misuse, physical health and/or offending, and run specialist outreach services to connect with people who are rough-sleeping.

Though a combination of practical support and confidence- and self-belief-building services, they aim both to lift the pressures that push people into rough sleeping, and by concentrating on the individual and creating trusting relationships, to help them change their lives in the way that they want to, at their own pace.

All of this needs money, and The Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride is one of their fundraising activities. Over the 4 days of the August Bank Holiday, Friday 25 to Monday 28 August 2023, cyclists ride 200 miles from Lincolnshire to London, following the route of the funeral cortege of Queen Eleanor of Castile, and visiting the sites of the 12 Eleanor Crosses that her husband King Edward 1 built in her memory.

Combining challenge, historical interest and fun, the Queen Eleanor Cycle Ride aims to make a genuine contribution to the work The Connection at St Martin's in the Fields does with homeless and vulnerable people in central London.