After a long, and thought-provoking process, the following causes were finally chosen to be the recipients of the money raised from the LeJogLe bike ride.
As you read about the causes you will see that there is a real mix there, from a global cancer organisation, right the way through to a local kids football team. There are 2 hospitals amongst them, really highlighting the importance of medicine in the public eye and we have 2 organisations whose purpose is to help develop peoples lives for the better through sport.
We are grateful for everyone who has helped choose the causes – this wouldn’t have been possible without your support and we thank you – now lets spread the word and raise some money!
So a quick recap – we want to raise a grand total of £180,000 (thats about $300,000 for our US readers) and we will be splitting the money up between the following causes.
The Lords Taverners.
The Lord’s Taverners is the official Charity of recreational cricket and the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports Charity.
Money raised will go towards two areas of activity, including
1. ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION IN YOUTH CRICKET, PARTICULARLY IN DISADVANTAGED AREAS
• Management and support of inner city and other youth cricket competitions
• Funding non-turf pitches to increase the opportunities for young people to improve their game
2. PROVIDING SPORTING OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUNGSTERS WITH DISABILITIES BY:-
• Supplying vital transportation through our specially adapted minibus scheme
• Supplying sports wheelchairs to enable youngsters to participate in sport
To donate to The Lords Taverners Click HERE or TEXT LJGL70 £5 to 70070 (you can replace £5 with £10 or £3!)
Great Ormond Street Hospital
Your donations really make a huge difference in providing the best possible treatment available and in providing hope to thousands of families throughout the UK and worldwide.
I think its fair to say that almost every person in the UK will have heard of Great Ormond Street, so on a personal level I am delighted to be able to ride for them!
To Donate to Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital click HERE or TEXT LJGL80 £5 to 70070 (you can replace £5 with £10 or £3!)
Since 1997, we’ve been working to improve the lives of people affected by cancer. We started as a small group trying to raise money to fight this disease. As cancer has quietly become the world’s leading cause of death, our work has expanded and now reaches every corner of the globe.
To comprehensively improve the lives of cancer survivors, we encourage collaboration, share lessons learned and develop evidence-based solutions to the problems that matter.
Raising awareness, increasing outreach and facilitating collaboration are critical to improving the cancer experience.
Click HERE to visit my LiveSTRONG sponsor page!
The Dorset Expeditionary Society
The Dorset Expeditionary Society was founded to encourage safe adventurous opportunities for young people. They actively seeks to provide disadvantaged and disaffected youngsters with opportunities for adventure and exploration.
By training and challenging our youngsters we seek to cultivate and promote the personal qualities of service, self sufficiency and leadership. The society’s leaders are all volunteers and its programmes are specifically targeted at increasing the scope and depth of challenge to all participants. Youngsters will rock climb, mountain bike, camp, canoe, parachute, cave, hill walk and pony trek.
They will learn new skills and raise their physical fitness but more importantly, they will live together in a situation in which co-operation, tolerance and teamwork are essential. We provide sponsorship so that the financially disadvantaged may join in with their more fortunate peers; through schools and associations we provide opportunities for those with physical and learning difficulties and adventure development courses.
Any funds raised would be used for our disadvantaged scheme to encourage young people from all walks of life to participate in adventure activities. These will range from weekend adventure opportunities to participation in events such as the Ten tors, jubilee challenge, Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, training weekends and expeditions.
(Martin’s note – I went to South America as a 16yr old with the DES and I cannot stress how important that time was in my life. From the very first day at senior school when I first saw an expedition photo to the day we departed going on an expedition was one of my key goals in life! These guys will test, stretch and develop their youngsters in more ways that they will be able to imagine,and the end result will be memories to last a lifetime and a greater respect for one another!)
To Donate to The Dorset Expeditionary Society click HERE please not that there is no text option for this charity – so please make the extra effort to visit their site!
Nottingham University Hospitals Charity
NUH Charity makes a fantastic difference to patients, their families and staff at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Our vision is simple: to raise as much money as possible to improve patient care, equipment and facilities, and to support medical research at your hospitals.
(Martin’s note – I have 3 little boys and each one of them has been to the hospital and I can vouch for the excellent work that the doctors and nurses do for their patients. I can honestly say that because of the work that they do we are blessed to still have Harry with us as he was rushed to Queens medical centre with Swine flu and pneumonia – the staff there cared for him and no effort was spared to make sure he came back to full health!)
To Donate to Nottingham University Hospitals Charity click HERE or TEXT LJGL60 £5 to 70070 (you can replace £5 with £10 or £3!)
Sport Relief
As one of the UK’s biggest fundraising events, Sport Relief brings the entire nation together to get active, raise cash and change lives.
All the money raised by the public is spent by Comic Relief to help people living incredibly tough lives, both at home in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.
Sport Relief 2012 is on its way from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th March!
Sport Relief has inspired thousands of people to do participate in activity and raise funds at the same time, we are glad to be able to raise money for them!
To Donate to Sport Relief click HERE or TEXT LJGL50 £5 to 70070 (you can replace £5 with £10 or £3!)
Radcliffe Olympic Junior Football Club
At Radcliffe Olympic we aim to provide an inclusive and fun environment for young children to develop their football and social skills in a safe, friendly and nurturing environment.
The football club warmly welcomes boys and girls from the ages of 4 to 9, no matter what your level of ability is, what school you go to, or where you live. Just come along and have some fun.
As a football club we are not setting out to discover the next Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole or Michael Owen. However, we do give children the opportunity to awaken and develop their own ability, skills and confidence. Most importantly, we want children to share this with parents, friends and coaches.
(Martin’s note – my son Christopher comes here, and so will Oliver soon, along with 200 other children to play football and get some exercise – the atmosphere is great, the kids love it and the coaches give up every saturday morning to volunteer their time to the club! Thanks!)
The Juniors are not a charity as such, so we don’t have a Justgiving page for them, however you can still donate using the Paypal button – with all monies going straight to them!
So then, thats it. Thats the final list of the charities that Martin will be riding for.
We hope there is one, or maybe more, amongst them that will stir you to donate.
In old-skool tradition, if you donate 1p per mile then you will be giving £18 to a great cause!
Tesco (please don’t sue us) bagged the greatest charitable catch-phrase of all time – please donate something, even if its just a pound – every little helps!