Because we're giving a lot!

Our names are Julian and Lawrence. We are two adults with
learning difficulties who live at Ravenswood Village in Berkshire.
Ravenswood cares for 160 people like us with special needs. We
can do lots of things that you can, but because we have learning
difficulties it’s much harder for us and we need some support.

Four years ago we rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats and
raised a lot of money for a new 16-bed residential unit for other
adults at the village who have profound and multiple learning
disabilities. The Queen opened the Pamela Barnett centre last year
and we were able to tell her about the ride and how you all helped
us to raise the money.

We are now asking you once again to help us raise money. This
time we want to use the money to build a new Special Needs
Adventure Playground at one of *Norwood’s homes, the Kennedy
Leigh Children and Family Centre, in Hendon, North London. This
new playground has been designed for children with learning
disabilities with conditions such as Autism, Cerebal Palsy and
Down’s Syndrome.

The playground will cost £65,500 to build.

How are we going to do this?

A group of eight of us will be cycling ‘End to End’ Ireland, a distance
of approximately 820 kms. We set off on Sunday June 6th from
Mizen Head the most southern tip of the Republic of Ireland and
finish 7 days later at Malin Head the most northern point

This is a massive challenge for us! We can’t do this alone, so we
will be taking turns riding tandem with the Head of Sports & Leisure,
Nigel Trumper, on the front. We will also be supported by two
support workers, Michelle Bass and Nick Abbott. The whole project
has been arranged by Lynne Gilbert and Charles Barnett, who will
be joined by his wife Judith on tandem. They will be riding the entire
route with us.

Judith works at Norwood where she organises the international bike
rides. Lynne and Charles have been volunteers at Norwood for
many years and Lynne runs the Norwood Cycle Club. They are
funding all their expenses of the ride themselves so that every
pound raised will go straight to this project.