Martin Clunes, popular TV actor and Patron of ACE visited Rossdales Equine Hospital and Diagnostic Centre in Exning on 5th October to receive a cheque for £10,000 on behalf of ACE from the members of the Rossdales Charity Bike Ride team.
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| Fred Barrelet, Martin Clunes and Marcus the Pony! |
During the bike ride, 71 cyclists, comprising Rossdales staff, friends, family and clients, rode either a 100 mile or 25 mile route. Each mile cycled contributed to the team's original collective goal of 2,500 miles, the distance from Rossdales Equine Hospital and Diagnostic Centre in Exning to ACE's clinic in Luxor, Egypt. In the event, they cycled a collective total distance of 4,100 miles – the distance to ACE’s clinic and two thirds of the way back!
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| The 100 mile team at the Start |
The inspiration for the bike ride, held as a part of Team Green Bike Week 2011, was Paul Dewey, who is the partner of Rossdales’ radiographer Josie Meehan. Paul was treated successfully for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at Addenbrookes last year and he was amongst the cyclists who completed the 100 mile route.
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| 25 milers pose for a photo |
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| Paul Dewey and Detlef Gerdes |
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| Adam Mehan - 25 miles dressed as a donkey! |
The Rossdales grand overall fundraising total was £20,000 which was split equally between two charities close to Rossdales heart. Vet Lorna Brokenshire-Dyke, chair of the Bike Ride Committee, said after the event: "Our choice of charities was easy; we wanted to show gratitude to the team who helped Paul through his long treatment and we also wanted to support ACE, a charity with which we already have strong links, and which has had a particularly difficult year with the recent political turmoil in Egypt. Originally we had only a handful of people planning to cycle but with the generous spirit of our
colleagues, friends and families at Rossdales, the event soon grew, along with the fundraising.”
Following a tour of the equine hospital and diagnostic centre, Martin, who owns 14 horses, and recently presented the ITV series ‘Horsepower’, said: “ACE is a small charity of which I am Patron and it does a fantastic job in providing free veterinary treatment and care for working horses and donkeys in Luxor. ACE’s education programme is superb, teaching children and the animals’ owners that they should respect and care for their animals. It’s tremendous that the Rossdales team has raised so much money – it will make a huge difference to ACE, which needs every penny to continue its valuable work – thank you so much.” Sue Akehurst supported Martin’s sentiments, saying: “We are delighted to be receiving this cheque from the Rossdales bike ride team. ACE is totally reliant on generous donations and this will make a great difference to what we can do and how many animals we can reach, as well as providing much needed resources to further our education programme, which is so important for current and future generations”.
The team members cycled across Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk on what turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year. The Fenland Villages 25 mile route explored much of the new Lodes Way and visited Burwell, Lode, Bottisham, The Swaffhams and Reach. The Coast, Forest and Fen route took the team a gruelling 100 miles along the North Norfolk Coast from Sheringham, to Hunstanton and back down through the Norfolk countryside before finishing at the hospital in Exning. The emergency on-call team of vets, nurses and students helped build up 100 miles for the team by cycling in relay on static bikes based at the equine hospital.
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| Team heading off along the coastal road |
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| Paul Dewey, Martin Clunes, Annalisa Barrelet, Sue Akehurst |
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| Sue Winter, Rosie being met by Lynn Beach from Rossdales |
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| Rob & Erin Clay meeting Rosie! |
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| Midnight |
After the bike ride, Rossdales held a fun evening including a raffle to raise further funds. There were two special guests in attendence, Midnight and Rosie who were kindly brought along by Sue Winter. Annalisa said "Midnight & Rosie were impeccably behaved, everyone was so enchanted with them and they helped to make the evening that little bit more special, as they represented the thousands of donkeys in Egypt which this money will be directly helping".
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| Midnight making a new little friend! |
Rossdales is an internationally renowned equine veterinary practice in Newmarket providing first opinion, emergency and referral services to clients via their ambulatory practice, state of the art equine hospital and diagnostic centre and laboratory.
For more than 50 years, Rossdales reputation as a world leader in equine veterinary healthcare has been built on expertise, the provision of innovative and specialised treatments, and its commitment to providing an always-available quality service.
In 2010, Rossdales committed to send to the ACE clinic for 10 days each year a team of one veterinary surgeon and one veterinary nurse to work alongside the charity’s own professional staff and volunteers, providing free veterinary care to working horses and donkeys.
Rossdales veterinary surgeon Pat Sells, who was a member of the Bike Ride committee and himself cycled 100 miles, has very cleverly put together an excellent short film charting the day's events. Watch it by clicking on the link ... http://vimeo.com/25907450
RELATED LINKS:
You can read more about the Bike Ride through the following links:
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