By Three dedicated NSPCC staff members from the Grimsby service centre will put themselves to the test with a challenging bike ride from Ho Chi Minh in Vietman to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Strategic Service Manager, Lisa Smith, and Children Services Practitioners, Dannie Adcock-Habib and Charlotte Gray, who all work together at the NSPCC’s Grimsby service centre, decided to really push themselves to the max for a cause they all passionately believe in. The Grimsby service centre is the NSPCC base for Together for Childhood, an initiative between the children’s charity, North East Lincolnshire Council, police, Children’s Public Health and community groups, working together to ensure local families get the help they need at the right time, and working to prevent neglect and abuse at the earliest stages.
Dannie said: “We see on a daily basis the impact that fundraising directly has on the children and families we work with, and how that money can help us transform lives.”
Charlotte added: “There is a range of events people can take on but this ride really appealed to us. Vietnam is always somewhere I have wanted to go and experience the culture over there.”
Lisa only started in post three months ago, but has already been inspired by the NSPCC. She said: “Just this September gone I did the West Highland Way so it feels only natural for me to use the physical challenges I enjoy to raise funds and awareness for such a worthwhile cause. When I started in post, I was staggered to hear that a child contacts Childline every 25 seconds, so I want to do all I can to help children transform their lives.”
The Ho Chi Minh to Angkor Wat bike ride is a 12-day, 450-km cycle through beautiful rural landscapes dotted with ruins of ancient civilisations, through the rice-paddies and waterways of the atmospheric Mekong Delta into Cambodia, before finishing with one of the most impressive sites of Southeast Asia, the Royal Temples of Angkor Wat.
As part of their fundraising for the bike ride, the ladies will be taking on all sorts of challenges as they train for the physical demands of the 12-day cycle. Dannie, who has just got her bike out of the back of the garage, is being sponsored to wear a different Christmas-themed outfit between now and Christmas Day – which she says is an easy task as she loves Christmas. She said: “I am known in the office for my love of a theme and so I have decided to wear all sorts of fun and wacky Christmas outfits with something really special planned for Christmas Day.”
Like Dannie, Charlotte is also a fairly inexperienced cyclist but thankfully her brother, a keen triathlete, has promised to take on her training. Lisa is the more experienced biker of the three, and loves mountain biking, having cycled in the French Alps as well as around the UK. She said “It will be the humidity that we need to train particularly for but I am looking forward to doing that with Dannie and Charlotte as much as the bike ride itself.”
Rachel Walker the NSPCC Events and Participation Manager, who will be taking part in the bike ride herself, said: “It is a massive challenge the ladies have set themselves but it will be an experience they will never forget. I wish them all the best for their fundraising and for the training. The humidity will be a real factor but the stunning scenery and the wonderful welcome from the local people will make up for all the hard work.”
If you would like to take on a charity challenge for the NSPCC and help change children’s lives. Whether that is a bike ride, abseil or marathon, please do join our team of heroes: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-you-can-do/charity-runs-cycles-and-challenges/
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