Hi all
I hope everyone is in good health and our players of all ages are enjoying being back at the club participating in some level of Rugby. I am sure you will all be disappointed that this is my last cycle challenge blog 🤣🤣.
So, at 7am on Thursday 27th August, seven of us set off from the club towards Cromer. Cheered on by my wife Zoe, youngest daughter Sophie, my mum, Gazza Mitchell and Malc who was already in the garage preparing for pitch maintenance. I won’t repeat the excellent summary that Matt Fleming put together but if you are interested you can see the article here.
I want to use this week to reflect and thank everyone who has been involved in the journey over the last 6 months. From people encouraging me to get through the training and the incredible donations, to the call from Ken Beattie asking to cycle with us, it has been an amazing experience. I feel very privileged to have completed the challenge and received so much support and generosity, despite us living through the most challenging period of most club members lifetime.
A great example came from my neighbours this week. During lockdown their Retreat and Spa business https://www.homefieldgrangeretreat.co.uk/ was under threat. Thankfully they survived and recently opened for guests. I mention this because, this week I planned to close the Just Giving Page, when the owners, Suzanne and Hans pledged a generous donation. I would recommend the Retreat to anyone you would like to provide with a very special treat. I am sure if you mention you are a member of Stewarts and Lloyds RFC a discount will be applied
Returning to the day, I would like to thank, Brother Kev, Nathan, Ziggy and Paul Bird for joining us on various stages of the route. I would recommend Coach Andy’s route to anyone who wants to cycle the same route, reasonably flat, scenic, safe and strategically placed pit stops. End of journey thanks goes to Gary Simpson, Barbara and Abbey Mitchell (For those that don’t know him their husband / father, is our chairman, Adey Mitchell).
Through your generous donations, to date we have raised £3535 on the Just Giving page which is a fantastic start to reaching our final target. Thank you to everyone who has donated. The page is going to remain active for the next 2 weeks should anyone who still wants to donate, can do here.
This week I have been talked into taking on another cycling challenge, this time it’s a memorial cycle with my retired Police friend, Mick Asquith, in memory of his fallen North Yorkshire Police Officer colleague. This takes place on a Friday 11th September alongside 40 other cyclists. Our goal is to cycle the 106 miles from Leeds to Scarborough. Wish me luck.
Going forward I encourage you to think how you could support the appeal, in particular, encouraging businesses to get involved or identifying a volunteer with skills in drawing up plans and drawings to submit to the council for the improvements.
So what next in our journey to raise over £30k. I am grateful to Tom Cleary and the senior players for agreeing to accept the Virtual Baton. Plans are already taking shape to organise a Rugby Golf fun day for all ages, on Saturday 3rd October 2020..... look out for more details in the next few days.
Thanks again, stay safe and healthy
