Tower to tower ride raises £7k for kids charity

Dave Perkins, 46, and close friends Paul Jackson, Craig Budsworth, Phil Gilbert and Chris Thompson took on the famous Tower to Tower challenge in aid of Winston’s Wish, which supports bereaved children and their families across the UK.

Business consultant Dave, who lives at Trafalgar Place in Lytham, said: “Winston’s Wish supported some of our very close friends when they were involved in a car accident and one of the children was tragically killed.

“There are people who do come into contact with Wintson’s Wish sadly on a regular occasion, so we made it our mission to raise money for them.

“It was quite an emotional time.”

The dad-of-three and his dedicated team set off from Blackpool Tower
on April 30 and arrived at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on May 4.

They raised more than £7,000 for the charity, which supports more than 100 bereaved families in the North West.

He said: “To make things a bit more interesting, I’d only got the bike which I borrowed the night before we set off. I didn’t do any training, I just hopped on the bike and did 500 miles!

“It was very hard to begin with because the bike hadn’t been set up for me and I hadn’t got the right food.

“It was a bit of a shock to the system for the first few days, but then the sun came out and it was just perfect.

“It was very draining, both physically and mentally. Our whole motivation for going to Paris was in light of the Paris terrorist attacks in November. We wanted to show solidarity with our European neighbours.

“I had a great sense of achievement afterwards and the fact that my little girl was so proud of her daddy made it all worth it.

“The money will help Winston’s Wish to carry out more counselling and look after 125 families in the North West who have been bereaved of parents or children.”

Clare Richards, community fundraiser for Winston’s Wish, said: “We really can’t thank the Tower to Tower cyclists enough for their continued support to Winston’s Wish.

“We rely entirely on voluntary donations, so to have this amount of money raised by the team is absolutely fantastic! It will enable us to continue our support for children who have been bereaved through a variety of services, including one-to-one therapeutic support and our national helpline.

“We’ve been following their progress closely on social media, with some great videos and photos, and have been continually impressed with each hurdle they have overcome!”