One warm summer afternoon sitting in the beer garden of The Greystoke in North Ealing, reminiscing from a recent “celebratory reaching 30” trip to Portugal, a few of us were thinking about undertaking a meaningful challenge. With the recent turmoil around the world, we all quickly agreed that we wanted to do something for our armed services who are helping to keep the world a safer place.
We soon got in contact with STUBS; a registered charity that provides practical support for UK armed services personnel who have been severely injured whilst on duty. Now all we had to was establish an event…. Marathons were boring (as well as no one being fit enough to run for the bus!), we wanted to be adventurous...so we thought let's cycle somewhere (we can sit down and take in the views).....and we have not been to Paris so we thought let's go there! Little did we realise that the total distance involved was almost 300km!
The training so far from four Ealing-based lads - to say this has been eventful would be an understatement. We have already had David Mallam fly down a hill whilst trying to quench his thirst with a pint of Strongbow.....I mean water; Colin Pipe a.k.a. Mr Cool who is fazed by absolutely nothing, William Harrington who totaled his bike recently on a leisurely cycle around Richmond Park and is now currently on the hunt for another, whilst I (Vikash Gandhi) am still yet to even purchase a bike! Are we bonkers? I will let you know the answer to that question when or importantly if we get to Paris!
So please dig deep and donate what you can for this fantastic cause as we really want to do ourselves and more importantly, this charity proud.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
You can donate in two ways:
1. Via the link below
www.justgiving.com/London-To-Paris-via-The-Greystoke
2. Via text
To: 70070
Using the Code: ESAD61
Followed by the donation amount: £
Alternatively pop in to my office in Ealing Broadway for a chat; Haart Residential Lettings, 42 The Broadway, W5 2NP and sign our donation sheet.
Thank you in advance for your support. I hope with your kindness and generosity, now matter how small or great your donation, you will be able to help us reach our target of £5,000.
Vikash Gandhi
August 15, 2012