The Charities

As you might expect, I'm hoping to raise some money for charity during this endeavour. I've raised money for a variety of charities by undertaking sponsored rides in the past. Usually, that has been as part of the UK Bike Week event. I've ridden to work to raise money. That might not sound like much but as I live in Winchester and work in Guildford, it's actually an 86 mile round trip.

For the End to End ride, I've decided to support two charities. One, Wessex Heartbeat, is local to the area of Hampshire where I live. It supports the cardiac unit at Southampton General Hospital. My wife Angela has been involved in events to raise money for them in past years, even organizing a major band concert in Bournemouth.

The other charity is national. The Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) supports over 2 million people in the UK suffering from visual impairment. It seemed appropriate to support RNIB as, during the ride, I'm speaking at a conference about access to the Web for people with disabilities during the ride.

The abstract for my presentation, The Meaning of 'Life': Capturing Intent from Web Authors is available from the W4A2006 conference Web site.

How you can help

If you'd like to make a donation to either of the charities I'm supporting, that would be fantastic. If you'd like to sponsor me for RNIB, there is an on-line sponsorship page that makes it really simple. If you are local to my home village of South Wonston, there are sponsorship forms for Wessex Heartbeat in the village shop and in the social club. In addition, both RNIB and Wessex Heartbeat accept individual donations on-line.