Appeal Chairman over half way on 767 mile cycle fund-raiser

Posted by Vicky Brady on 12 August 2014

The tail end of a hurricane and a nasty accident with a HGV lorry has failed to halt the progress of Mike Thompson, Chairman of the RNOH Appeal, and his team of cyclists who have passed the half way mark in their 767 mile bike ride fund-raiser around the South of England.

Mike, who is CEO of the award-winning, employee-owned Childbase Partnership, and his colleagues are visiting each of the 47 day nurseries in the group where pre-schoolers and staff have been staging their own fundraising events to help raise £50,000 to fund a children’s play area at the new Princess Eugenie House at the hospital.

Cheering children have met the team at each pit-stop – following the Bath start on Sunday, August 3^rd - which the cyclists describe as the perfect antidote for aching legs and the shock of an accident involving an HGV lorry in London.

Paramedics already at the scene tended to Redevelopment Appeal supporter, Paul Haworth, who escaped with cuts and bruises and was back in the saddle of a replacement bike less than 24 hours later.  His own bike was completely destroyed in the accident.

Despite torrential rain and high winds on Sunday, when other riders and supporters were prevented from joining the team on the roads due to concern about their safety, Mike Thompson said:

“We are forging ahead heartened by the incredible support and encouragement we have received at every stage. The importance of this outside play area for families and their young patients, undergoing traumatic hospital treatments, has captured the imaginations of everybody we meet. It will take more than the tail end of a hurricane to really dampen spirits or our resolve,” he said.

He thanked the professionalism of the paramedics in coming to their aid in London; the Hertfordshire suppliers, Giant, in Radlett who not only offered the loan of a top of the range cycle but delivered it to the team in Kent, and the many donators to his ‘just giving’ page: https://www.justgiving.com/Michael-Thompson17/.

Appeal supporter, Paul Haworth, shrugged off concerns about his injuries saying his worst fear at the time was being unable to continue after the destruction of his bike and the effect of the incident on his teammates.

“The RNOH Redevelopment appeal is a great cause so I was determined to finish what I had started. It would not, however, have been possible without the immediate and generous support of Giant in Radlett. It is impossible to adequately thank them for their generous support,” he said.

Tracy Smith, Manager Nene Valley Day Nursery in Northampton, joined the team in Hertfordshire for a 127 mile ‘leg’ of the marathon and summed up the feelings of all Childbase Nurseries staff and children to the fund-raising aims:

“We are surrounded by happy, healthy and confident children every day at nursery and can see how important an imaginative outdoor play area is to their development. This is even more important for very young patients and their families at what is probably the worst time in their lives,” she said.

By Sunday afternoon (10^th August) the team completed nearly 400 miles of their epic journey before heading to Birmingham to tackle more city centre traffic on Tuesday.

Week two: The route then follows: Northamptonshire, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Oxford, Buckingham, Aylesbury, Leighton Buzzard, Luton, Cranfield, Milton Keynes and finally Meadowview Day Nursery in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire where the Childbase Partnership story began 25 years ago.

Supporters can follow the progress of the cyclists during on Twitter @MMbike2014.

To support the appeal please visit https://www.justgiving.com/teams/MMbike2014