Organiser Tom Potter along with 23 friends and locals set off from Henley town on a 325km ride to the French capital, all in aid of a good cause or 3.
Tom had planned to do the cycle in 2020 and had to abort due to Covid. It has taken 4 years to finalise new plans, and Tom has found some new riders along the way.
Tom, as a parent at Trinity School, decided to raise funding for Trinity and Gillott’s as well as The Chiltern Centre. In an interview with the Henley Herald he touched on how he feels small charities are largely overlooked when it comes to fundraising and in his opinion the Chiltern Centre do some wonderful work.
We asked Tom privately why he chose us and this is what he said “I chose the Chiltern Centre because I wanted to support a smaller local charity that does great things, but struggles for funding and awareness vs other mainstream charities. It was concerning, but satisfying to hear that the 2017 ride I organised provided critical funding to the Chiltern Centre at that time and I could only imagine the events of the years since would not have been easy for the Chiltern Centre either”
All of the 24 riders made it to Eiffel Tower without incident, a little wet, a little cold, but relieved and proud. Tom’s son has said that one day he will ride to Paris so that his children can be proud too.
If you would like to organise your own fundraiser and need our help, please email cheryl@chilterncentre.org.uk
