About

Hi all, thanks for visiting my fund-raising page. Alot of you will know that I'm a keen cyclist. I'm off to Belgium on April 5th to take on a 100 mile, 22 climb Tour Of Flanders event. The Tour Of Flanders is Belgium's biggest one day cycle race, where the ‘professionals’ take on the famous "Hellingen" of Flanders to see who comes out on top. It's one of cycling's 5 "Monuments". Every year, ‘amateurs’ – like me - get the chance to take on the course the day before. So, this year, I’ve decided to head off to Belgium to take part in the amateurs race, on behalf of Hopes & Beams. More about them later but first a bit about me…………… I've trained hard. I've been rudely beeped by cars, passed so close a wing mirror hit me, squeezed into a wall by a lorry, nearly got t-boned by a car, frozen on -4-degree rides and sweated in the garage on the trainer when I couldn't ride in the snow! As a result, I'm feeling ready for it. However, I know the course will try to break me and it will undoubtedly be the hardest event I've ever done (that includes marathons, a sky dive and a fire walk). To make matters worse, I've opted for the longer route that takes on all of the cobbled sectors, cobbled climbs and frankly stupidly steep hills - such as the feared 22% Koppenberg that in 2024 reduced most of the pro peloton to a walk and there's even one called the Muur van Geraardsbergen too, which literally translates to Wall Of Geraardsbergen. Sounds fun, right? 😏 Luckily, I won't be alone. My dear friend Mike Humphreys is joining me for the ride so if you've landed here in support of Mike please be assured you are in the right place and go ahead and donate! You may also know of my son, Alistair. "Ali" is 11 and has a lot of special needs. He's autistic, has severe ADHD, general learning difficulties and development delay across a broad spectrum. He's also the most brilliant, wonderful boy who brings joy to anyone he meets - he amazes us every day with how hard he tries to understand the world around him. Ali struggles with friendships and socialising - as he gets older his friends mature but he doesn't. A few years ago, we came across a charity, Hopes & Beams, just a short walk from us that specialises in helping people like Ali to enjoy making friends and learning new skills. Hopes & Beams is a multi-award-winning charity that gives young people with physical, sensory and learning disabilities the chance to play, train and make friends in a fun and safe environment. The friendly team of staff and volunteers provide support and advice for those with disabilities or additional needs and their families. Hopes & Beams is a place where everyone is welcome, valued and important. Hopes & Beams has sent many children to the Special Olympics and helped countless others in the local area. They've been an enormous help and support to our family, as we've tried to find the right specialist school for Ali to go to next year when he leaves primary school. Despite overwhelming odds, he was placed in a school in another county that will be perfect for him and I know a lot of that will have been down to the support of Hopes & Beams. Ali joined their gymnastics club just after the covid lockdowns and he absolutely loves going every week, he's made friends and is surrounded by patient and caring staff and volunteers. Recently, the old building that the charity inhabits has had some issues with the ceiling in their gymnasium. The children have had to practice in corridors and waiting areas for months whilst the team tries to get the gym safe again. I'm reaching out to you all in hope that you can spare some funds to help with the cost of these repairs and to power the charity into the year ahead and help them to help even more people in the community. I'd be forever grateful if you could help in any way you can. I’ve not used Givey to raise funds before, but I understand that it's better option for smaller charities than the bigger names in the industry that can take a higher % from donations away from the charity. I'm told there'll be a small service charge to make a donation, I hope you can add that on top of any donation you can offer. If you're in the UK, please do opt for the Gift Aid as it increases the amount the charity receives by an extra 25p for every £1 donated. Also, if you are a higher rate taxpayer you can claim further relief on your donation through HMRC. Here’s a bit of blurb from Givey: Thank you for visiting our Givey page. When you make your donation through Givey, the Charity receives 100% of the donation. Your details are safe with Givey and donating is completely secure. What’s more, they never share your email address with any third parties except the Charity you donate to. Thank you Ian (and Ali)