Shropshire Magazine

Shropshire Magazine and Shropshire Star feature writer Andy Richardson is certainly an intrepid fellow. He is currently in training to join a John O’Groats to Land’s End cycle ride with double Olympic gold medallist and adventurer James Cracknell.

In June, he’ll follow Cracknell and his team as they navigate a 1,008-mile route in just nine days. He’ll be passing through Shropshire, following a picturesque route that takes in much of the area around the Welsh Marches, including Long Mynd and stopping overnight in Ludlow.

Andy has already stumped up the £1,095 entry fee to take part in Ride Across Britain and will meet many more additional costs. His aim is to raise as much money as he can for Hope House.

He is asking that you sponsor him in attempting this mammoth and exhausting feat, which he has called Riding For Hope. Visit www.justgiving.com/ridingforhope to support Andy’s Riding For Hope appeal.

In the meantime Andy visited Hope House to see where his money will be spent. Here is his report.

Andy Richardson.

It can’t be a cheery place, Hope House? After all, it provides accommodation for life-limited children. Surely, despondency hangs heavy in the air . . .

Surprisingly, it doesn’t. Hope House effervesces with happiness. Perhaps it’s the innate awareness among all present that life is short and every moment should be cherished. Perhaps it’s the love and attention bestowed unconditionally upon every youngster. Or perhaps it’s just because children and young people have a will-do approach to life. Whatever the reason, Hope House is a joyous, uplifting and transcendent place.

Vanessa Thomas, the hospice’s fundraising manager, says: “We are here to give practical and emotional support to terminally ill and life-limited children and young people and their families. Our specialist nursing care enables parents and carers to have a little break from the 24-hour-a-day challenges of looking after a very poorly child, and we offer counselling for the whole family, including brothers and sisters. There’s an acknowledgement that some lives may be short, but we do not dwell on that. We’re here to help the children and their families make the very most of the time they have together.

“It costs more than £4 million every year to run our Hope House hospice at Oswestry and Ty Gobaith in North Wales. We receive central funding to cover our costs for one month but the during the remaining 11 months we rely totally on donations and local support.”

That’s why I’m urging everyone in the county to get behind the Riding for Hope appeal. Some people might want to donate by giving online, which is easy, safe and secure. Others might decide to make a donation at one of the Shropshire Star’s branch offices, which are collecting money in Hope House tins.

Other people might decide to do something themselves. They can get in touch with me if they have ideas. The aim is simple: to generate money that will help Hope House.

One hundred per cent of the money donated to Riding For Hope will go to Hope House. Any costs associated with administration or Ride Across Britain have already been met.

Not a penny will be wasted. People can give freely, secure in the knowledge that absolutely everything will go towards the cost of maintaining services for those who need them most.

Cycling from John O’Groats to Land’s End won’t be easy. The training plan alone recommends back-to-back seven-hour rides. Once the event gets under way, we’ll be part of a team completing an average 114 miles per day.

Cracknell and Co deliberately avoided the quickest, easiest route. Instead, they plotted a course that will take us past lochs, over hills — including Shropshire’s 1,693ft Long Mynd — and through some of the most picturesque scenery in the UK.

Our journey starts on June 12 and goes from John O’Groats to Kyle of Sutherland to Loch Linnhe, to East Renfrewshire, to Ullswater; to Manchester, to Ludlow, to Cheddar; to Launceston and eventually to Land’s End.

The Ride Across Britain team describe day six thus: “Manchester to Ludlow: As we ride through the leafy Cheshire lanes, and with a little more than 105 miles to do and only 6,400ft of climbing, riders might think (incorrectly!) that it’s an easy day. The route takes us due south, running parallel with, and close to, the Welsh border.

“Riders will need to take on plenty of food and drink at the second pit stop in the Shropshire Hills because, at 85 miles, we encounter the monster that is the much revered climb of The Long Mynd, leading to the highest point in the ride at around 1,600ft above sea level.”

So there you have it.

I’d love magazine readers to log onto www.justgiving/ridingforhope where they can make a donation to Hope House.

If people want to organise an event of their own, they can email details of it to me at arichardson@shropshirestar.co.uk or call (01952) 241429.

• www.justgiving.com/ridingforhope