The Whitby Gazette, Published Tuesday 15th March 2011
Roger Hartley and Colin Stonehouse who are cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End
w111109a Picture: Ceri Oakes
A pair of Whitby fund-raisers are cycling the length of the country to raise money for two worthy causes.
Colin Stonehouse, landlord of the Station Inn, and Roger Hartley, lab technician at Caedmon School, will begin the epic ride on 25 July at John O’Groats and cycle to Land’s End to raise money for both Colin’s niece Grace and Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team.
Grace Murray was born with quadriplegic cerebral palsy and has been visiting a clinic in Poland to help her condition, but with a month’s treatment costing £8000 and no Government funding available, much help is needed to allow her twice-yearly treatment to continue.
Mr Stonehouse said: “She’s seven but she has the body of an eight-month old baby.
“She has all this physio and once a day she wears a special suit that allows her to walk normally.
“It was developed for Russian cosmonauts and it’s a suit made of pieces of elastic which aligns her bones and muscles and when they are all in the right position it helps her walk properly.
“She has come on so much but she needs to keep going.”
Last year the pair completed the coast-to-coast walk to raise money both for Grace’s treatment.
Each year the search and rescue team is involved in around 30 incidents and all members are volunteers who are on call all day, every day.
Mr Stonehouse added: “Last year we did the coast-to-coast walk and it’s just really the next step.
“Since then we have slowly been getting ready for it and we have been getting better and better.”
The John O’Groats to Land’s End bike ride is approximately 900 miles long and takes 12 days.
To find out more information or to sponsor the two cyclists visit the Station Inn on New Quay Road, Whitby.
