To celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary, 55 employees from dealers Lister Wilder have pledged to cycle 55 miles by taking part in this year’s London to Brighton Cycle Ride to raise money for charity.
The team of cyclists will be raising money and awareness for blood cancer research charity, Leukaemia & Myeloma Research UK (LMRUK) after an employee was diagnosed with blood cancer.
Group service director, Neil Davis put forward LMRUK as one of the charities to support throughout the year, following his diagnosis. “I’m extremely passionate about supporting on-going research into treatments for blood cancer," he said. "I personally take medication for my Leukaemia that was only developed 20 years ago, so it proves that we need to be constantly supporting this research to ensure that more effective treatments or even a possible cure can be found.
“The Lister Wilder cycling challenge is also a great opportunity to raise awareness. I’m looking forward to taking part with my colleagues and hope we can raise lots of funds for this fantastic charity."
LMRUK invest in specialist research into stem cell therapies as a more effective treatment for blood cancer to help protect the next generation. The charity actively raises awareness of the signs and symptoms of blood cancer and encourages expectant parents to bank their newborn baby’s umbilical cord blood stem cells through its Model Cell Biobank service.
Dr Joanna Tilley, operations director at LMRUK said, “Our work investing in potentially life-saving research into more effective methods to treat blood cancer simply wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of our volunteers and fundraisers. They make a real impact in the fight against blood cancer – whether it’s raising £50 or £500, it all makes a difference.
“We’re so grateful to the team at Lister Wilder who are busy training for this epic challenge to help raise vital funds and awareness of our charity and we can’t wait to cheer them on over the finishing line!”.
The Lister Wilder team have set themselves an ambitious fundraising target of £20,000, which it aims to hit before joining over 4,000 other keen cyclists taking on the 55-mile challenge in September this year. The fundraising has been kicked off generously by Kubota UK with a donation of £1500.
"Kubota are very pleased to support Lister Wilder in their 75th anniversary London to Brighton Bike Ride" , said David Hart, managing director of the Thame based machinery company. " What better way to add to the Lister Wilder anniversary activities than to also support this great charity, which in addition, also has significance to our team at Kubota (UK) Ltd. We wish them all the very best in this great team challenge."
Phill Hughes, sales director, has taken on the role of team captain as well as leading the fund raising. He said, “It’s fantastic that 55 team members have signed up to the challenge in order to raise money such a worthy charity. Every year we do some smaller events for charity, but we haven’t done something of this scale since 2017 when we raised nearly £20,000 for that year’s chosen charity, a figure that this year we are hoping to beat!
“We are asking the manufactures of the products we support as well as our suppliers if they are able to make a donation, as well as anyone else that would like to pledge some money for this great cause” All donations large and small will be received with thanks from both ourselves and everyone involved with LMRUK, who rely on these type of events”
"Donations can be made on our Just Giving Page 'Wild Wheels'"
The London to Brighton Cycle Ride challenge takes place on 11th September 2022 and starts at London’s Clapham Common and takes riders through passing towns and countryside before reaching the finishing line at Brighton’s Madeira Drive.
