Ted's 100 churches

At the end of 2015 I learned that I had metastatic prostate cancer, and since then I’ve been on a series of treatments to try to keep the cancer under control. These treatments have all been the result of research trials conducted in recent years, and without these trials, would not have been available to me. In the past 18 months I’ve been able to volunteer to assist in two such trials myself, and the current one is receiving funding from Cancer Research UK (CRUK). Around 50% of the cancer research conducted in the UK is funded by CRUK. However, in 2020 they announced that because of COVID-19 and the devastating impact it’s had on their income, they could be forced to cut £150 million per year from their research funding. They therefore desperately need our support to pursue their vision of ‘bringing forward the day when all cancers are cured’. I was inevitably classified as clinically vulnerable during the coronavirus pandemic, which meant that Amanda and I had to take our exercise on a bike-trainer or running round the garden. Once we were allowed ‘out’, we looked for a way to enjoy some exercise while remaining well socially distanced from other people. That’s when we discovered that there are 100 pretty little rural churches within a 10 mile radius of our home. 10 miles seemed to meet the Government guidelines on ‘staying local’, and the churchyards were ideal for conforming to social distancing rules when we stopped for our coffee and cake refreshments! So over the following few months we visited each church in turn by bike or on foot. That was far too much fun for us to feel that we could chase you for sponsorship. So we’ve now decided to return to all 100 churches by bike within a 100 hour period (hopefully 11 am on May 24th to 3pm on May 28th), camping out after each day's ride. We'll be taking our mascot "Jacky" who will ensure we keep to the rules by having his photo taken at each church. For this we’re going to need all the support and encouragement that we can get! Please help us achieve our target ... and support CRUK’s vital work.