Plucky pedalers rise to challenge

Some of the cyclists who went from London to Brighton to raise money for Julia's House (l-r) Steve Wells, Darryl Cursley, Paul Meyer, Ashley Hannan, Caroline Attreed from Julia’s House, Dan Thompson, Lee Woodfield, Marc James and Leon Stimpson.

Some of the cyclists who went from London to Brighton to raise money for Julia’s House (l-r) Steve Wells, Darryl Cursley, Paul Meyer, Ashley Hannan, Caroline Attreed from Julia’s House, Dan Thompson, Lee Woodfield, Marc James and Leon Stimpson.

A challenge laid down by Poole Pirates’ speedway boss Matt Ford led to £14,000 being raised for Julia’s House, the Dorset and Wiltshire children’s hospice charity.

Steve Wells from DWP Housing Partnership accepted the challenge and chose to cycle 75 miles from London to Brighton – off road.

He persuaded ten friends to join him on the ride and together they spent all day pedalling to the coast.

They hoped to raise £6,000, but smashed that target and presented a cheque for £14,000 to Caroline Attreed from Julia’s House.

Steve, who completed the route in under seven hours, said: “I am one of the Poole Pirates’ sponsors and Matt Ford likes to lay down a challenge.

“I have done various sponsored bike rides before but never anything this long and off-road.

“There were 11 of us who embarked on it and we all raised money through sponsorship.

“There was the odd broken pedal and some very aching limbs, but it was such a good cause there was no way that we weren’t all going to make it.”

Julia’s House is the only children’s hospice charity based in Dorset and Wiltshire dedicated to helping life-limited children and their families across both counties.

Corporate Fundraiser Caroline, who accepted the cheque, said: “Julia’s House relies almost entirely on donations and fundraising as we only receive 5% funding from the government.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for local families with life-limited children to get the care and support they need, when they need it. Steve and the team of local businesses have played their part in helping us make a difference in the local community.”

 

 

Notes for Editors:

DWP Housing Partnership was established as Dave Wells Properties in 1985. The company, which has its headquarters in St Clement’s Road, Boscombe, owns properties across Dorset and Hampshire and houses over 3,000 tenants.

The business currently has other new developments under construction in the Bournemouth and Poole area and plans for several more in the future.

Steve Wells sits on a number of national panels, advising on the best ways to regenerate run-down areas and working to make sure Bournemouth remains a great place to live and work. He’s also a member of the National Landlords Association (NLA) and the British property Federation (BPF).

 

For more information contact Ed Baker, account director at Deep South Media, on 01202 534487 or 07788392965