John and Bob are fundraising to support the maintenance of historic church buildings. The churches of the Wickwar Benefice, including our home church of St Mary the Virgin in Kingswood, St Giles (Hillesley), Holy Trinity (Rangeworthy), Holy Trinity (Wickwar) and St John (Charfield), are included in our route this year, which spans about 17 miles.

If you would like to join us, a small group will be leaving St Mary's at 10am for a leisurely ride between these churches.

This year we especially remember our churchwarden, Dr David Hatton, who sadly passed away on 17 July 2024. He organised the Ride+Stride for St Mary's for many years, taking us to many locations across the county. He was an inspiration to us all to keep fit, enjoy the outdoors, and have a positive impact on the community.

The cost of maintaining historic stone buildings like St Mary's Church is very high and often cannot be borne by their small regular congregations. They are of value to the entire community for their beauty, their historical significance and for religious purposes such as weddings, baptisms, funerals, regular services, individual prayer and retreat. We rely on donations and fund-raising to support the maintenance and repair of roofs, paintwork, stone, metal and woodwork, as well as protecting and enhancing the facilities. St Mary's will receive half the money raised through this page with the other half going to the Gloucestershire Historic Churches Trust. Our website is at https://www.stmaryskingswood.org.uk

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From GHCT: Thousands of people take part in Ride+Stride every year to raise funds to support their local churches and county historic churches trusts. In our area we raised over £45,000 in 2023, for individual churches and for our grants programme. You can take part in this fun event where participants seek sponsorship to visit our churches by walking, cycling, on horse back, on public transport or by car. Most of our Ride+Stride supporters join in with others from their church but, if you simply would like to help save historic churches and support the Trust, you can sign up on your own!