In 2020, during the middle of the pandemic, we very sadly lost our colleague Ashley to Leukaemia, after a characteristically strong battle with it.

Ashley, in his imitable style, didn’t want a funeral, which in a strange twist of fate was oddly appropriate as the COVID restrictions at the time wouldn’t allow us to attend, even if he had wanted one. He had a great sense of humour and would have found the irony of the whole situation amusing. He would nonetheless have been happy that at the time of his passing there was an Englishman in yellow at the Tour de France and the Baggies were celebrating promotion to the Premier League!

We wanted to do something together, and in our own way to remember Ashley. He was a keen cyclist and we couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate his life than to cycle from London to Brighton in his memory, raising money for Blood Cancer UK, a community dedicated to beating Blood Cancer and Macmillan Cancer Support, who provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.

Some of us have never cycled before, or up until now, even owned a bike but we’re determined to finish this challenge for Ashley, giving him the send off he never wanted, but really deserved.