The South Yorkshire End to Enders
17th July 2009

Hi all I hope you are all well. Today I paid the final amount into the bank and closed the account and presented The Aurora Centre a cheque for £1954.96p and the Rotherham Cancer Care Centre a cheque for £1954.95p which makes the total raised (including a little interest) £3909.91p.
Thanks to all who helped in any way, it has been a pleasure meeting and working with all of you and I hope we meet again someday.
Yours Graham, also Paul and Mick.

The South Yorkshire End to Enders
Be Part Of It!

A great big thank-you to all that joined us today on the BE PART OF IT leg (sponsored by www.palingplumbing.co.uk) through Sheffield to Doncaster, braving the humps and bumps, and (not forgetting) Rawmarsh Hill, and onwards, it was a brilliant turn out and a great day, all under supervision from the excellent Yorkshire GoldWings

Photo's of today will be up as soon as possible both on here and probably Facebook, keep checking! In the meantime, IF YOU HAVE PHOTOS YOU WISH TO SHARE, SEND THEM TO:

photos@thesouthyorkshireendtoenders.org.uk

Don't forget that you can keep an eye on how the ride is going by viewing our blog HERE or by following the button at the top of this page.

The South Yorkshire End to Enders
Cycle Ride Begins

Photo receieved this morning (24-04-2009) of Graham a few minutes before they set off.

The South Yorkshire End to Enders
Cycle Check

A great big thank-you to "Hayfield Wheelers" who have kindly safety checked and serviced the bikes for us, ahead of next Friday's start. Many Thanks to them.

They are Henry George, son Jo Jo and colleague Richard Oxby.

Richard Oxby, Henry George & Jo Jo

Graham White, Henry George & Jo Jo

The South Yorkshire End to Enders
Would like to thank the following for their encouragement and support.

• Their families for their support, encouragement and sacrifices, while we have been planning and training for the cycle ride.
• All our friends and colleagues for their support.
• All the clients at New Beginnings.
• M & G van hire Balby Doncaster for supplying, free of charge, a van to transport us to Lands End and from John-o-Groats. Special thanks to M & G Doncaster operation manager Nicola Dale
• Francois and Marelize for their kind donation of First Aid equipment.
• Marks and Spencer Doncaster for their donation of 6 bottles of wine for raffle prizes.
• Luke Gilliver for our excellent Web Site
• Henry George and Richard Oxby of Hayfield Wheelers for their support, advice and servicing the cycles free of charge.
• Dave H for volunteering to drive the van to Lands End and from John-o-Groats. Also thanks to Dave and The Yorkshire Region of The Goldwing Owners Club of Great Britain for the planned motorcycle escort during the “You Can Be Part Of It” leg from Sheffield to Doncaster.
• Parkgate Retail Park for agreeing to give us a welcome stop during the “You Can Be Part Of It” leg.
• Mexborough Centre for agreeing to give us a welcome stop during the “You Can Be Part Of It” leg.
• New Beginnings for agreeing to give us a welcome stop during the “You Can Be Part Of It” leg.
• Fiona for purchasing and printing our Hi Viz bibs.
• All the fantastic people who have agreed to sponsor us.
• Rotherham Cancer Care Centre and The Aurora Centre for their assistance.
• Anybody who I have missed.

Lands End to John-o-Groats Route

Please note we may have to move out of the area stated to locate a campsite/YHA accommodation, and if conditions are good and we feel fit we may complete more miles than planned, conversely if conditions are bad and we are struggling we may complete less miles.  Also the route may change as a result of advice given by locals.  As a rough guide our route is laid out below.

Day 1 Lands End to Bodmin area, all A30 approx 58 miles

Day 2 Bodmin to Okehampton, again mainly the A30 approx 42 miles.

Day 3 Okehampton to Wellington Somerset via Copplestone, Crediton, Sampford Peverell to Wellington.  Approx 50 miles

Day 4 Wellington to Frome via Taunton, Somerton, Lamyatt, Batcombe and Wanstrow.  Approx 51 miles.

Day 5 Frome to Meysey Hampton Gloucestershire via Oldford, Woolverton, Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Calne, Wootton Bassett.  Approx 59 miles.

Day 6 Meysey Hampton to Long Itchington near Leamington Spa via Arlington, Eastington, Farmington, Bourton-on-the-Water, Moreton-in-Marsh and Compton Verney.  Approx 59 miles.

Day 7 Long Itchington to Radcliffe-on-Trent area via Princethorpe, Shamford, Barwell, Stapleton, Coalville, Swannington, Belton, Rempstone, Bunny, Plumtree and Cotgrave.  Approx 60 miles

Day 8 Radcliffe-on-Trent to Sheffield- Not sure which route to take, we may go via A6011, A612, A60, A617, A61 to A621, approx 47 miles.  The alternative is via Burton Joyce, Calverton, Blidworth, Shirebrook, Clowne, Eckington arriving in Sheffield approx 59 miles.  We will see how we feel and look at conditions and take advice, hopefully we will be able to inform people which route we are to use prior to setting off.

Day 9 The BIG ONE “YOU CAN BE PART OF IT”.  Leave area outside Sheffield Railway Station 9.30am.  we will eventually go onto A6178 going past the Don Valley Stadium and The Sheffield Arena on our right to the Tinsley Fly Over stay on the A6178 Sheffield road to Rotherham.  In Rotherham we will travel down Corporation St heading towards Bridge St to the dual carriageway then follow signs to Parkgate/Rawmarsh.  We intend to arrive at the Parkgate Retail Park at 11.00am, we plan to stay for 30 minutes as The Rotherham Cancer Care Centre are planning a event to coincide with our arrival.  We plan to leave Parkgate at 11.30am on the A633 travelling to Rawmarsh, Swinton to Mexborough for 12.30pm.  The Aurora Centre are hoping to have an event in Mexborough, if they do, we are planning to have another 30 minute break.  We plan to leave Mexborough at approx 1.00pm.  We leave Mexborough on the A6023 passing through Denaby and Conisborough before joining the A630 to Doncaster.  Our plan is then to travel to the New Beginnings project which is located on the A630 at Marshall Avenue (DN4 0QP), we plan to have another 30 minute break at New Beginnings. This is the end of the “Be Part Of It” leg.  At approx 2.30 we will Leave New Beginnings going past the Railway Station (if you need the train home).  We travel on to Selby for our next overnight stop.

Day 10 Selby to Masham via Ryther, Tadcaster, Boston Spa, Wetherby, North Deighton, Knaresborough and Copgrove.  Approx 54 miles.

Day 11 Selby to Hexham this is 75 miles so we may decide to shorten this leg, adding the mileage to the next few legs.  Via Bedale, Scotton, Gilling, Caldwell, Staindrop, Eggleston, Crawleyside and Blanchland.

Day 12 Hexham ?? to Hawick via Bellingham, Elishaw and Southdean.  Approx 55 miles.

Day 13 Hawick to Edinburgh via Hassendean, Midlem, Caddonfoot, Peebles and Pencuik.  Approx 60 miles.

Day 14 Edinburgh to Dunkeld via Kelty, Kinross and Perth.  Approx 58 miles.

Day 15 Dunkeld to Newtonmore via Ballinluig, Dalcapon, Pitlochry, Blair Athol, Drumochter and Dalwhinnie.  Approx 54 miles.

Day 16 Newtonmore to Dingwall Inverness via Aviemore, Carridge, Tomatin and Moy.  Approx 58 miles.

Two options after Dingwall, we will decide which route on the day, we hope to inform the website which route we’ve taken.

Day 17 Route A Dingwall Inverness to Brora – Basically A9 all the way.  Approx 57 miles.

Day 18 Route A Brora to Wick, A9 and A99 all the way 47 miles.

Day 19 Wick to Wick via John-o-Groats 33 miles.  Good night sleep and home.

Or

Day 17 Route B Dingwall Inverness to Lairg via Muir of Ord and Sittenham Alness.  Approx 57 miles.

Day 18 Route B Lairg to Bettyhill near Thurso A 836.  Approx 50 miles.

Day 19 Route B Bettyhil to John-o-Groats A836.  Approx 51 miles.  Camp at JoG home the next day.

New Guestbook Online!

Hi everyone, just to let you know, if you're going to "BE PART OF IT", you can now let us know through our online Guestbook! This can be found by CLICKING HERE!

Thanks for your support!

“Be a Part of It”
Sheffield to Doncaster via Parkgate Rotherham.
Saturday 2 May 2009.

Leave the area outside Sheffield railway station 9.30am.  Travel towards A6178 which takes us past The Don Valley Stadium and The Sheffield Arena on our right.  Proceed to the Tinsley viaduct roundabout staying on the A6178 Sheffield road to Rotherham passing the Magna Centre.  In Rotherham we proceed down Corporation Street to Bridge Street then the dual carriageway sign Doncaster, at next roundabout follow A633 Parkgate sign.  We plan to arrive at the Parkgate Retail Park 11.00am.  Rotherham Cancer Care is planning an event at Parkgate on May 2nd so we are planning to spend 30 minutes with them.  At 11.30 we head off on the A633 to Rawmarsh, Swinton arriving in Mexborough around 12.30pm, The Aurora Centre Mexborough are hoping to have an event running that day so again we plan to have 30 minutes with them.  At approx 1.00pm we travel to Doncaster on the A6023 via Denaby and Conisborough.  We plan to call at New Beginnings which is at the junction of the A630 and Marshall Avenue (DN4 0QP); we plan to spend 30 minutes at New Beginnings.  This ends the “Be Part of It” leg.  We leave New Beginnings around 2.30pm heading to Selby, which is our overnight stop.  We pass Doncaster railway station, so if you need to train home we can bid you a fond farewell and give you our grateful thanks then.    

My name is Graham White and I am employed by Doncaster PCT as Team Leader at the Structured Day Programme New Beginnings Balby.

A friend of mine Mick Rimmer who is a Drug Worker employed by RDaSH and works with the Doncaster Drug Intervention Programme told me it was an ambition of his to cycle from Lands End to John-o-Groats.  Without really considering what this would entail, I told Mick I would like to join him. 

At home I informed my family of the embryo plan and my son-in-law; Paul McNamara announced he would like to join Mick and I.  We discussed this further and decided we should attempt to raise money while undertaking the cycle ride, therefore, we decided to raise money for The Aurora Centre in Doncaster and Mexborough and also the Rotherham Cancer Care Centre.  Both are organisations that offer alternative therapies i.e. massage, aromatherapy and reflexology etc to people who have suffered various forms of cancer. 

Paul’s wife, my eldest daughter Rebecca, who is a Community Physiotherapist and Manual Handling Trainer with Rotherham PCT, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 at the age of 28 years.  Thankfully Rebecca has fully recovered. During her recovery she accessed the services of The Rotherham Cancer Care Centre. 

So, the plan is, Mick, Paul and I will start the cycle ride from Lands End on Friday 24 April 2009.  We are aiming to arrive in Sheffield on Friday 1 May 2009 on our way to John O’Groats.  On Saturday 2 May 2009 we would like to invite the people of South Yorkshire to “be a part of it” by joining us and cycle for all or part of the way as we cycle from Sheffield to Rotherham, Rawmarsh, Swinton, Mexborough, Denaby, Conisborough and into Doncaster.  If people who don’t want to cycle but still want to “be a part of it”, a few words of encouragement as we cycle past would be very nice.

To organise the above venture is quite an involved undertaking, therefore thanks for their help go  to my wife Christine who is a Practice Manager for a GP practice in Goldthorpe Barnsley PCT and  my youngest daughter, Emma who is a nursery nurse at a nursery in Swinton.