On Monday 13th August 2018 a team of staff from Oxley Sports Centre, Sherborne set off to cover 400 miles on a tour of the South of England to raise both money and awareness for The Alzheimer’s Society.  They started fundraising back in January when Ellie Green, Fitness and Class instructor extraordinaire came up with the idea after which she hatched the plan to tour the South West.

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The group started from Oxley Sports Centre at 7am and cycled the 70 miles to Lymington to catch the ferry to the Isle of Wight, then a further 20 miles to the hotel for the night.  On Tuesday they cycled another 90 miles back through the New Forest back to Oxley. Wednesday was an 85mile coastal cycle to West Bay, Weymouth, Portland and then back through the Piddle Valley. Thursday saw them stacking up 75miles through Glastonbury, Cheddar and staying by the Suspension bridge in Bristol.  Friday was the last day and they clocked up the final 90 miles of their trip from Bristol, through Longleat, Shearwater and StourHead before heading home to Sherborne. A total of 420 miles in the five days.

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The cyclists returned to a welcome home BBQ and although all had sore and aching limbs by the end of the week, everyone agreed it was worth it.  They raised over £2400 for the Alzheimer’s Society.  There were a total of 10 cyclists who took part some for one day, others for 3 days and 3 staff members including our ‘pocket rocket’ Ellie Green, Steve Hurley and Simon Ross completed the entire challenge.  It was an amazing challenge and although there were threats to “I’m going to put my bike in the shed and it’s never coming out!”  The whole team were very happy they had completed the challenge and would like to thank everyone who took part and those who supported them so much during the week.

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As we begin to live longer there are many affected by dementia in the UK. The Alzheimer’s Society not only funds research into the causes, possible cures and prevention of dementia but helps with care should it be needed. They can also offer help to families, carers and friends and have spearheaded support in the community, developing training for local businesses making themselves more dementia friendly, which Oxley Sports Centre are proud to be a part of.

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The Alzheimer’s website tells us that 89p of every pound they raise goes directly to helping people with dementia and the remaining 11p goes to future fundraising so we know that anything we can do to help raise money is of real value to those affected.

Look out for our future fundraising events at www.oxleysc.com ‘cause we’ll be gearing up for a new challenge soon.