Hospital workers team up for 110 mile charity bike ride
Two West Bromwich hospital workers teamed up to complete a 110 mile bike ride to raise money for a charity which supports women who have been affected by domestic abuse.
Jim Giles, maintenance operative and Jason Moles, domestic supervisor, both met through their work at Cygnet Health Care-run hospital, Cygnet Heathers, and quickly became good friends with a shared love of cycling.
The pair heard about charity WAITS through their colleague Pat Hemmings, who is Cygnet’s quality assurance manager for the West Midlands.
Earlier in the summer WAITS organised a dragon boat race which the pair went to and afterwards came up with the idea of another fundraiser.
WAITS is an established charity which has collaborated with and supported women who are experiencing, or have experienced, domestic abuse for 30 years and specialises in supporting women from black and ethnic minority communities.
Last year the duo completed a charity bike ride from Birmingham to London to raise money for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
This time, they decided their route would be from north to south returning to Birmingham.
Jim said: “We started cycling together as a way for me to regain my fitness after I broke my leg and were lucky to receive bikes from Cygnet Health Care as part of our ‘cycle to work’ scheme.
“We’re only amateurs but it is fantastic to do what we love and raise some money at the same time.”
Describing their route Jim added: “The total distance was about 110 miles and we broke it down over two days stopping in Newport, Shropshire. We caught the train up to Liverpool and went across the Mersey on the ferry and down the Wirral to Chester.
“It was a tough first day about 65 miles but the second day was a lot shorter. Overall for two men of a certain age I think we are quite proud of ourselves. We certainly don’t consider ourselves to be the next Bradley Wiggins.”
Jason added: “It was for a very worthy cause and we hope to do more in the future.”
Cygnet Heathers, on Grout Street, is a 20 bed service providing neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative rehabilitation for men with mental health difficulties and acquired brain injury.
The living environment has been specially designed to assist service-users to manage visual, spatial and perceptual difficulties, and reduce frustrations and confusion resulting from brain injury.
So far the pair have raised £375 for WAITS and are still accepting donations on their JustGiving page at justgiving.com/campaign/liverpool-waits
