On Sunday 24 September, 15,000 riders will be taking part in the first ever Velo Birmingham, a 100 mile closed road bike ride starting and finishing on Birmingham's Broad Street, and going out to Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

You can find out more about the ride at www.velobirmingham.com

Amazingly, so far over one thousand of those riders have chosen to ride for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity and we salute each and every one of you - thank you!

Riders can choose which area of the hospital they would like to support, with many supporting our Cancer Appeal, Fisher House (our home away from home for the military) or simply the Queen Elizabeth Hospital as a whole.

Every penny we raise will help support patients and their families. You can watch a short video here to see a bit more about our work and to hear some thank yous for all your support.

We've set a big target of £250,000 but that could help us do some really big things as well!

£250,000 would run Fisher House for a full year (click here to see our Fisher House video)

£250,000 would allow us to purchase a "Heart in a Box" machine that would allow us to increase the number of heart transplants each year by 30% (click here to find out more)

But anything you can do to help us raise funds will make a difference

£1,000 buys a reminiscence system that we use with our dementia patients to help them remember events, sights and sounds from their life

£500 buys 50 presents that we give to children at the end of their radiotherapy treatment

£250 funds our pizza nights on the teenage cancer wards

£25 funds a night for a family to stay in Fisher House

It's still not too late to join us on the Velo Birmingham ride - you can sign up and join us at www.bikeforbrum.org

THANK YOU to all the riders, and look forward to seeing you all on the start line when our Queen Elizabeth Hospital cycling jerseys will stand out in the crowd!

Mike Hammond

Charity Chief Executive and Velo Birmingham rider!