Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. 

The ride is over but the page remains live for "post event" donations.

My updated target of £4,500 has already been well and truly smashed, lets see how high the end total can creep up to! 

I cycled  from Lands End to John O'Groats over 14 days this August - doing a LEJOG as this journey is often called. It was  a supported LEJOG  with Pedal Britain which meant I could travel light each day but the challenge was  still significant - over 1000 miles in 14 days with no breaks. I only got back into  cycling during lockdown in May 2020 and had not cycled more than 25 miles on a single ride for decades.

Over the 14 days I was cycling for eighty two and a half hours (say 3 and a half full days), covering 1022 miles and climbing 57,956 feet.

My training started  in September 2020, and I  cycled 4637 miles since 1st January 2021 by the time I reached the famous signpost at John O'Groats.

I  now have five charities that I would like to support , and to give more options for all those who do sponsor me rather than just one specific charity. I  added Nailsea Community Group to the original list of four charities with effect from 1st July .The donations will be channelled through Rotary Nailsea & Backwell for onward distribution to those charities. The five charities are:

Portishead Christmas Lights - . I have lived in Portishead since 1986, so am almost a local now, and want to support this great volunteer organisation. They give so much pleasure to all who live in Portishead or visit over the Christmas period, this was especially so over the lockdown winter of 2020. 

British Red Cross Disaster Fund - I spent half my working life as a Finance Manager with the British Red Cross, working with great people. Their  Disaster Fund always needs topping up, it is the source of immediate disaster relief funding both in the UK and abroad.

Lend with Care - My Rotary club make regular contributions to this charity which provides micro-credit (ie small loans) to individuals and small businesses around the world to help their business thrive and provide an income them and their families. There are very low default levels on the loans, so once an initial loan is repaid the funds get lent again to someone else. It is a great scheme, helping people to help themselves. Any donations here will be used and re-used many times over many years - a gift that keeps on giving!

Cancer Research UK - both my parents were active volunteers for this charity, and cancer impacted heavily on my mother and other relatives, as it has for so many families. So this choice is of special significance for my family.

Nailsea Community Group - this group formed during the early stages of the pandemic and has done an enormous amount of work to support people living in and around Nailsea. Their work is still relevant now and does need ongoing funding.

The default option is that your donation is split equally between all five charities for donations made after 1st July, donations made before then will be split equally between the first four charities.

However if you nominate which charity/charities you would like your donation allocated to and state that in your donation message we will be able to allocate the funds accordingly. 

For example - if you really would like to support Portishead Christmas Lights include "Lights" in your message. Then I'd suggest you use for the others  "Red Cross" "Lend with Care","Cancer Research" or "Nailsea Community Group". As an example of how to allocate to two charities a message of "Red Cross and Lend with Care" will result in the donation (and any gift aid) being allocated to those two charities.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the Rotary Club Trust Fund. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charities supported.

If you are a tax payer, do tick the gift aid option, it won't cost you anything but "Dishy Rishi" and the Exchequer will top up your donation by a further 20% .

The Rotary Club Trust Fund will receive the initial donations and subsequently any gift aid, and then will distribute to the causes at regular intervals. 

I will update further here on this page and will gradually fill in more details about the ride and the fantastic group of new friends that I shared the experience with on my website/blog which you can fund using the link below.

https://www.hawks-lejog.co.uk/

Thank you everyone for your support and messages of encouragement.