Letter of Appreciation from Fred

Fred Wetekhela (who runs the Namisindwa Orphanage) sent a note to John & Sue today... we thought you would like to read it...


Dear Brother John and Sue Mathias,

Receive greetings from Namisindwa orphanage, Teachers, cooks and guardian.

thank you for being concern about the orphanage and needy children who are in the worsened situation. 

thank you very much for the information of Cycle Uganda may the Almighty God Bless you all who are concerned about the activities which is going to take place on this month i.e. the well wishers, the donors, those who are praying for it and the organizers at the same time. we are also praying day and night for the success for Gods protection  for all the participants journey.  

May our Good Lord  God bless you all 

Fred  

Summer Concert Raises over £200 for Namisindwa!

The Bristol Christadelphian Choir and Orchestra held a concert on Saturday, playing and singing a wide range of music. A collection was held for the Namisindwa Orphanage and raised £242.60 which takes us over the halfway point towards our target of £3,000! Thank you so much everyone!

The Final Countdown

It's now June! Where did the time go? There are only 19 days until the start of Cycle for Uganda 2014.

The last month has seen a lot of behind the scenes preparation for the ride, sorting out the itinerary, finalising all the cyclists details and briefing them on safety and nutrition, promoting the event, collecting sponsorship money, organsing catering, cafe stops, preparing risk assessments... the list goes on. There is always way more to organising a ride like this than would first appear. But I think I've got it all under control!

The number of cyclists has increased from a decent ten, to an amazing 25 - 30 with some of them coming from as far off as Bournemouth, and London. It's all getting very exciting, and many of the cyclists can't wait to get started... some of them are feeling a little nervous though! We've got vehicle support to provide backup which has brought comfort to some of the more apprehensive riders.

Fundraising is going very well. Extremely well. Many people have already been kind enough to donate and this Saturday our local Bristol choir and orchestra are holding a summer concert at Downend Hall, and have agreed to hold a collection for the Namisindwa Orphange.

To date we have already raised £775 (including gift aid) towards the £3000 target. It's still over two weeks until the ride and I'm hoping we get another wave of sponsorship when we actually do the ride! I'm hoping those children have a very nutritious and educational year!

I've just received an email to say that one of our churches in Bournemouth held a beach event last night and raised £200 for the Namisindwa Orphange! That's simply amazing! Thank you all so much! Once that's passed on to us it will bring our total to nearly £1000!

I'm really moved by all the support and enthusiasm that everyone is showing, not just from the cyclists, but all the others who have agreed to help in one way or another and to all those who have donated or said they'll donate. Thank you everyone!

...unfortunately I can't organise the weather. Let's pray it's dry, calm and warm!

Donation Page is live!

The long awaited page to allow you kind people to sponsor our ride and help the children in Uganda is now live. We've been waiting on some signatures on the charity papers and for BT to approve the account, but it's all go now!

I've quickly put together an event page (which I'll improve in due course), but you can now donate (yes, lots of people have already asked even though the ride is still over two months away).

Point your browser at https://mydonate.bt.com/events/cycleforuganda

We've initially set the target to raise at £3,000 which reflects funding required for the Nursery for one year. Then if we are successful we can do it all again next year!!

Keep in the Loop

Our Cycle for Uganda Facebook page is now up and running, allowing you to stay up to date with the latest news and show your support from within Facebook.

Keep in the loop by pointing your browser at https://www.facebook.com/cycleforuganda and liking our page from within your Facebook profile.

We will be posting pictures of the event and photos from the Namisindwa Nursery, and you can see who else is following and supporting us.

Springing Into Action

It seems that Spring has finally arrived and I've found the motivation to get back out on the bike and sort out some more details for the charity ride. We're currently sorting out the donation page so you can all sponsor us and give money to the orphange and help the children's education and provide them with food. It looks like we'll have a decent number of riders, but to encourage those who don't want to commit to 87 miles we are running a shorter 47 mile ride that takes in the latter part of the loop.

There are 15 weeks left until the event. That's going to fly by quicker than you can imagine. Some of our riders are perhaps a little behind in their preparations (John still hasn't got tyres on his bike!), but there is still plenty of time to get those training miles in.

John and some others flew out to Uganda in January and visited the Namisindwa orphange. We hope to provide a report and pictures soon.

Action 100

I've just signed up for the Action 100 ride from Bristol to London next August. 113 miles of undulating terrain in aid of medical research for babies and children.

There's no going back now!

http://www.action.org.uk/action_100_bristol_london