Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and particular thanks to the friends who have already contributed to my appeal in aid of St Michael and All Angels Church, Steventon, and the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust (OHCT). The money raised by my sponsored walk will be divided equally between the two.

I am delighted to say that the sponsorship offered so far has enabled me to raise my target a little and now even that has been slightly exceeded. Both the JustGiving page and the cash account are still open to receive donations so, even though I did the Ride and Stride on the proper day, 13th September, any further offers of support will be very gratefully received.

For the Ride and Stride, I started the day by driving round some of the churches in the north west of the Area as part of my administrative duties. These are ones that tend to attract few St/Riders, like St Michael, Cumnor, so I like to call in just to encourage them. I am glad to say all eleven had signing-in forms on view although only at four was there a Welcomer to sign the visitors' forms, which was understandable in view of the few cyclists that risk the A420!

The sponsored part of my day started at St Michael and All Angels, Abingdon, where I left the car while I walked to eight churches in the town, all of them with Welcomers to sign my form, but then they had all had twenty or thirty visitors and more by early in the afternoon. My walk had to leave out the last two churches in the town because I was scheduled to become a sponsored Welcomer myself at St Michael and All Angels, Steventon, for an hour. St Michael in his various manifestations saw quite a lot of me that Saturday!

You probably know that the money raised by the Oxfordshire Ride and Stride goes to the OHCT which keep half to help with the maintenance of the county's church buildings. OHCT pay the other half of my sponsorship to Steventon Church. Our Vicar is about to retire so the money will help towards the cost of finding alternative ministry.

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 OHCT. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity. OHCT will pay half your donation straight away to Steventon Church's General Fund.

For more  information on the OHCT please go to www.ohct.org.uk or for Steventon Church www.steventonchurch.org.