Blackpool six year old ditches stabilisers and gets on his bike to support the RNLI

Gethin Evans of South Shore wanted to learn to ride properly so he could get a bigger bike and at the same time do something good for the community.

The Roseacre Primary School pupil decided to ride the 14 miles from his home to Lytham lifeboat station to support the crew where his grandad was a member.

His mum Abi Evans said: “It had taken him a while to get up the confidence to take his stabilisers off and when we went into lockdown he did it.

“He actually did it and was riding without them in just ten minutes.

“Before that he had been wanting to raise money for quite a while, but could not decide how to do it.

“When he got a bigger bike he decided to a sponsored bike ride for RNLI Lytham.

“He chose them because his great grandad used to be a member of the RNLI in Lytham and my mum used to raise money for RNLI.

“My brother, Niall Pailing, did the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride and my husband Thomas Evans, did a sponsored boxing match for the RNLI. So Gethin took inspiration from them.

“Gethin said he wanted to raise £200 which we thought was quite a lot of money for a six-year-old but then on the morning of the ride he hit £720.”

Gethin set off at 11am and made it in 55 minutes, with just one stop for water.

The family had a picnic on Lytham Green but Gethin was full of energy and wanted to run around before cycling back home.

Abi said: “It has been such a good thing for his confidence and a good life lesson in doing something and giving to others.

“Now he is hoping to reach £1,000 but we said that might be a bit high.

“And he is talking about doing a fund raiser for children in Africa next.

“The ride went really well and he was not at all tired. We are very proud of him.”

If anyone would like to donate to Gethin’s fundraising effort for the RNLI, visit his JustGiving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gethinjamesevans