Ride and Stride 2022 – Report and Sponsorship

Ride+Stride 2022
by Nick Perry

Most of you will know by now that I took part in the annual Ride + Stride event on 10 September. You can read more about the arrangements here.

The day dawned dry, with scattered clouds, a gentle breeze and not too warm – perfect conditions for cycling. I set out at 10 am, visiting each of our parish churches before crossing the A52 and heading towards Newark. I got chatting with another rider at Langar and we discovered that we were covering the same ground, so we stuck together until parting somewhere near Elston. Following the Covid-affected event last year, it was good to find welcomers at many more churches and, of course, the refreshments provided at several stops were much appreciated. I should like to take this opportunity to also thank those who provided a warm welcome to riders and striders at our own parish churches.

Having paused for a quick sandwich in the pretty churchyard at Averham, I headed over towards Southwell, stopping by the Minster. I reached Halloughton at around 4 pm, only to discover that I was their first visitor of the day and consequently welcomed most enthusiastically. I made my way back towards home territory via Lowdham, Radcliffe and Cotgrave, just in time for the 6 pm deadline.

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me. I have been away for the last two Sundays, so if you have been looking for me to hand over some money, I apologise for not being around to relieve you of it! I am hoping, however, to be at the All-Parish service at Langar this Sunday (2 October), so please try to find me there if you haven’t yet caught me. Participants have been asked to return sponsorship money to the organisers by 31 October, so if I don’t catch you this week, I will do my best to ‘track you down’ later.

My target was to raise £1000 and current pledges stand at around £800, so I would very much welcome any ‘late’ sponsorships to get closer to that total. You can do this either by contacting me in person or by visiting my JustGiving page to make an online donation. I shall be donating the ‘own church’ portion of the sponsorship money to the St Mary’s Church renovation appeal, which is aiming to raise about £30k for necessary repairs to this historic ruined church in Colston Bassett.

Many thanks for your support and encouragement.

Nick