THE YEAR IT WENT FROM RIDE... TO STRIDE

Read on to discover how many presents we delivered and how much we raised for the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

Our 11th Annual Santa Charity Cycle took a slightly different twist this year due to the -2C weather forecast. Despite the freezing temperatures the show must go on so we took the decision to switch the format from a Santa Ride to a Santa Stride.

The primary goals remained the same – Raise as much money as we can and deliver as many gifts as possible to the children at the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

The Stride

A massive thank you to all 94 Santas and of course our Reindeer Ride (Stride) Captains who braved the chilly start on Saturday for the 1.2 mile walk from Whole Foods in Richmond to the Turks Head in St. Margarets.

Fuelled on delicious hot drinks and pastries from Whole Foods, we took on the short walk in great spirits. The up side to not being on bikes, we had a few more 4 legged friends joining us this year. With Christmas songs playing, laughter flowing and even a flurry of snow, the festive and inspiring day got off to a great start.

The After Party

Once again The Turks Head were there to welcome us and we were treated to hot drinks and bacon rolls.

The festivities got underway with the fantastic Epsom and Ewell Silver band kicking us off with some Christmas carols before we took on a new-to-the-agenda Christmas quiz. Who knew Die Hard is considered a Xmas movie???

Prize giving for the best dressed HAD TO include a prize for the best-dressed dog this year. Check out the pictures…How could we not reward this amazing doggie fancy dress?

There was also a raffle with some fantastic prizes from our amazing sponsors including £50 Whole Foods vouchers, a meal for 2 at the Turks Head and multiple cut and blow drys at Headmasters and much more.

Finally, a big thanks to the live band, Scratch Demons, for getting all the Santas on the dance floor with some classic crowd-pleasers.

Donations

Through everyone’s exceptional generosity, we are currently ONLY £103 shy of our £5000 target which includes a fantastic £608.96 raised from the raffle on the day. (unfortunately, the JustGiving page is currently showing an incorrect duplicate £1000 donation which is skewing the target).

We will be closing the donations page at the end of the day on Monday 11th December, so if you have any more pennies to contribute to help us hit £5000 we would really appreciate it.

Delivering the Presents

We were overwhelmed by the incredible generosity of everyone this year as we managed to deliver just shy of 900 gifts!

The gifts really do make a huge difference to the children at the Hospice who are struggling with life-limiting illnesses and may not get to see another Christmas. A big thanks to everyone who donated something, no matter how small, as you help spread the Christmas joy and put a smile on the kid’s faces.

The staff were amazed and thrilled with the amount of gifts our community had kindly donated when we dropped them off a few days later.

Big Thank Yous

The day would not have been possible without the support from our fantastic sponsors. We would like to say a huge thank you again to:

- VIPA Digital
- The Turks Head Pub
- Whole Foods Richmond
- The Scratch Demons
- The Epsom and Ewell Silver Band
- Headmasters
- Elete
- CurraNZ
- The Palm Centre
- AKWA
- Reindeer Stride Captains

Save the Date

Thank you again to everyone who took part. If you want to get in on the action next year be sure to save the date now – Saturday 7th December 2024. Or better still reserve your spot.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE.

See below for some more photo highlights from the day.

Categories: Charity Ride, Events