St Mary's, Thornbury

There are other ways to be involved – opening your church, sponsored church cleaning, flower arranging marathon etcc

Registered Charity No: 1120266

Ride & Stride

The results from this year's event are nearly all in now - please send in any outstanding money and sponsorship forms as soon as you can.  We will be publishing the totals early in the new year and announcing the winners in our categories. 

Each year, on the second Saturday in September, a national sponsored event is held by all the county historic churches trusts.

The Ride and Stride is inter-denominational and members of churches are invited to seek sponsors who will volunteer to pay an agreed sum of money either for the day or for the number of churches the participant visits.

The event takes place between 10 am and 6pm. The money raised is shared equally between our Trust and the place of worship nominated by the participant. An alternative is for a participant to be sponsored to be in his or her church for a time, doing whatever jobs need doing in the church, such as polishing or dusting!

As important as participating in the Ride and Stride are the many volunteers who give up the day to man the churches and chapels and sign in the participants as they arrive. A welcoming face offering refreshments and local knowledge makes a huge difference to stalwart riders and striders.

Anyone can join in the fun of the day. There is no organised route which participants should follow. You are welcome to make up your own route to suit you and your companions. Also it is not necessary to obtain sponsorship only from your own church members. Many people, who are not churchgoers, are very willing to act as sponsors so you are not always asking the same people for money. In addition, certain employers have a policy of supporting members of their workforce who undertake charity fund raising, thus opening up a new field of obtaining finance.

Now that we have signed up to use justgiving, you can range the world to seek sponsorship!

If you are using justgiving please mention your chosen church's name in the My Story box.  This will help us make sure the 50% of your sponsorship money reaches your church.  Please also make a note of the total you raise this way.

The list of churches and chapels in the county is being amended and will be available to download again soon.  It is a list of all churches, not just of those participating, so if you would like advice of which churches near you may be open please ring me on the number below.  If you need more copies of anything, please download from the Forms page or call Ailsa on 01285 643343.

If you have a church/parish or village website why not add some details about the Ride and Stride?  This might reach people who wouldn't normally know about it. 

The photograph below shows the group of around 60 cyclists from Rendcomb College who took part in the 2008 Ride and Stride.

You can find information on Ride & Stride here.