• Ride + Stride

    Please register now for Ride+Stride 2024 (see reginstration form below).

    Ride+Stride 2023 raised £37,253!

  • Ride+Stride is the foremost annual event enabling you to raise funds for repairs and improvements to historic churches, chapels and meeting houses throughout Leicester and Leicestershire

    Over £1,239,540 has been raised in Leicestershire since our first Ride+Stride in 1990 (with Gift Aid still to be added from 2023 Ride+Stride).  Even during Covid, the event raised £107,700 in 2020-2022.  That was an amazing achievement considering the difficult circumstances adn Leicester's very long lockdown, and a fantastic tribute to everyone who took part - a long list that includes area and local organisers; cyclists, tandems and mobility scooters, walkers and horse-riders; welcomers and those who open our churches on the day; and especially everyone who sponsored an individual participant or donated via the Trust's JustGiving page.  We look forward to this year's Ride+Stride on Saturday 14th September 2024!  To take part, please use the Registration Form at the bottom of this web page.

    How it works

    Ride+Stride is a sponsored event for cyclists, walkers, joggers, runners, horse-riders and mobility scooter drivers. You can also be sponsored as a welcomer on duty in a church. 50% of sponsorship money goes to the church or chapel chosen by the participant, with the other 50% going to the LeicesterShire Historic Churches Trust which organises the event and uses the funds raised for grants to churches and chapels for repair, restoration and improvement projects. 

    You plan your own route (which may cross county borders) using the List of Churches and Chapels that are intending to open on the day. Riders and Striders ask their relations, friends and colleagues to sponsor them - so much for each church or chapel they visit between 10.00am and 6.00pm on the day, or a lump sum. This is recorded on your sponsor form and you can take part for as long or short a time, within the day, as is convenient for you.  We will shortly be uploading sponsorship forms and other information.  The List of Churches and Chapels will be uploaded during August.

    You can also set up your own Ride+Stride fundraising page via the Trust’s Just Giving page here.

    On the day

    You can ‘clock in’ at the first church on your chosen route from 10:00am onwards. There will be a Ride+Stride register to sign. If there is no Welcomer to sign your sponsorship form, please complete and initial your form yourself. Enjoy looking round the church and churchyard then continue to the next church or chapel on your route. Refreshments will be available, but not everywhere, so please carry water and food with you. 

    By 6:00pm the last keen participants will have signed the register. Some churches and chapels, particularly in hilly areas or far from other churches, receive many fewer visitors, sometimes in single figures or none at all, but the event works best when as many churches and chapels as possible are open on the day. Many congregations see the day as a Church Open Day when useful jobs can be done inside the church or in the churchyard - with short breaks to welcome visitors!

    Ride+Stride 2024 - Saturday 14th September - Church Registration Form

    Please complete the form below to register if your Church or Chapel would like to participate for Ride+Stride 2024. Thank you for your help and support.

    Safety on the roads

    Safety on the roads is paramount and although organisers cannot be responsible for the Riders and Striders, they do all they can to encourage safe participation for all.
    REMEMBER – SAFETY FIRST – TAKE GREAT CARE.

    At all times observe the Highway Code and the Country Code. Do not sacrifice safety for speed. N.B. It is a condition of participation in Ride+Stride that, save to the extent required by law, the Trustees of the LeicesterShire Historic Churches Trust accept no liability in respect of death or injury sustained by anyone taking part in Ride+Stride.

    After the event

    When you have collected your sponsorship money, please give your form and the sponsorship money to your local organiser who sends it to Mrs Anne Bloor, the Hon Treasurer for Leicestershire Ride+Stride. Anne adds everything up, banks the money, and sends each church or chapel its half share. 

    An experienced rider can visit 30 churches or more and, with good sponsorship, can raise a considerable sum. In Leicestershire, some churches raise over £1,000 through Ride+Stride and there are some participants who raise more than £1,000 each. 

    We hope to raise at least £40,000 through Leicestershire Ride+Stride this year – please take part, raise funds, and have a great day! 

    For further information, please contact Sean Dudley sean.LHCT@gmail.com / 07852 467999

    Take a look at some previous years...

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