Bring IT On!!

Ladies and Gentleman (and you boys and girls) we have come to the special moment when all the: planning, sweating, training, meetings, phone calls and emails bear their fruit as we now make our way to the start line at Land's End. Yes it is time to mount our trusted bikes, put on our reflective strips, don our helmets and begin the long long journey to the top end of Britain. We (the team) hope you follow our journey as Treez (Neil's beautiful wife!) writes our daily events on this blog. Please make a comment or two, I will give a prize on our celebration evening to the best one!! Right where did i put my bicycle clips..............

48 HOURS

The count down has begun............Bob and the team are sorting all the logistics of the ride, with the van and all necessary equipment being brought together. The team are in high spirits and I know cannot wait to get started. The next 48 hours will go very quickly and their journey will begin. I will be keeping you all up to date with their daily events, so keep reading about their journey..................and don't forget to comment.
Good Luck to Bob Neil Steve Owen and Andy and to the ladies of the team
Rosie and Michelle.
And of course the support crew Gray, Merf and Chris......................

Thank you!!

I would like to say a big big thank you on behalf of the cycle4seatbelt team for all the donations thus far, the offers of support and best wishes (trust me it means a lot to us!!), Without question it has been a long journey in the organising and preparing of this ride. An unbelievable amount of work has been undertaken by many many people (especially my fellow riders and seatbelt committee) to this point. It is now the time to step up to the line and deliver a ride that will hopefully deliver a message about seatbelt safety and, raise the monies for the Fire Services' National Benevolent Fund.

From my heart 'thank you so much', keep up your support!!!!! (We need you).

Last Sunday b4 the Off!

Today, Owen, Steve and myself had the final meeting to iron out the last few creases. To be honest I'm knackered b4 we have even started but i'm pumped up and ready for the big off on Thursday. I've been making up a big display board (pictures below) to show people the route and the messages we are trying to get across.

The weather has been a bit naff so the last minute training has been shelved whilst Neil is enjoying himself at Butlins with his family (hopefully not too much pop!!).

We leave Abingdon at 11am from Abingdon Fire station on Thursday and we arrive at John Mason School on Tuesday 5th June at 12:30pm. On the 6th June we are in Oxford with my fire colleagues campaigning and raising money in the city centre. On the 7th june we continue our long journey. Hopefully you will follow our blog, our stories and hopefully you will pass comment and leave some messages.

Cholsey Primary School

Today I and Alexis visited Cholsey Primary School to talk about seatbelt safety to the children and, also included the importance of wearing a cycle helmet and a reflective strip when they are on their bikes. They were all brilliant and listened intently and at the end asked me some really good questions. After the presentation I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely sweet girl whose name is Jamie-ray (hope thats right), who is blind and she wanted to touch the seatbelt I used to show the children, and demonstrate to me that she does it when she gets into a car. "This is easy and I do it everytime I get into a car", Jamie said. I was overcome by her positivity and determination. You dont have to read between the lines to get the message here!! Thank you so much Cholsey for making us feel welcome at your lovely school.

Emails/Texts/Phone calls!!

I'm really looking forward to the ride primarily to get me away from the PC at home. It feels like I spend most of my life these days: emailing, texting, phone calls and meetings but i know it is all for our campaign which is going to be brilliant, in fact I feel a little bit excited now!!! Bring it on!!

Carswell Primary School

Today I visited Carswell School to decide on the winner of the competition to chose a name for my bike. There were loads of great entries and it was really tough to choose. Great names like: Dash, dale, Wan Roonie,Jetrockit, Billy Bob, Beep, my hero, speedy blue, zoom zap vroom. After making a couple of phone calls to the other lads on the ride we chose the following. Neil is going to call his bike 'Fast & Furious' (Amber class 4), Steve is calling his 'Storm Breaker' (Sean class 5), we chose Owen's to be 'Superbike' (great picture drawn by Erin class 2) and my favourite and the winner of the cycle helmet was Ella who said 'CARSWELL'. It had to be as my children went there and I was a school governor there for 8 years. Happy days!! Congrats to the winners who all got prizes.

What a week!!

Last week was really tough and I'll be honest it caught up with me by the end of my last night shift on Saturday morning. I had the excellent opportunity to talk live on air on Radio Oxford, a good experience and hopefully got the message and campaign across to the listeners. Then it was to the Westgate (with White Watch) to hand out leaflets and raise cash (only did £120 in 4 hours). Decided to have a restful weekend with my son Jack.

John Mason School - DVD launch

Today was brilliant, Dale's friends launched the DVD that they have been making since Xmas. It brought tears to my eyes and a large lump to my throat. I'm so chuffed and proud of what they have made. The music they chose is James Blunt's 'Beautiful'which we played at Dale's celebration of life. It is neatly recorded in black and white with interviews to camera, it is stunning. Congratulations and well done to all those who were part of it's creation. The media attention was amazing with interviews to ITV/BBC, radio and the tabloid press. We had pictures taken by the memorial garden which will appear in the Oxford Mail in a couple of days, I believe the DVD will be on the Ox Mail website. I'm on Radio Oxford tomorrow morning giving a live interview in reaction to the DVD, the kids have already done their recordings. Thanks to everyone who came along to support including the Road Safety Team (well done Mandy), Counscellor Ian Hubspeth, the crew from Abingdon Fire station and my cycling buddy Owen!!

Coroners inquest

On Tuesday it was Dale's inquest in Oxford coroner's court. It was a very tough morning having to listen to my ex wife (not easy for her either) and the driver (so arrogant) recounting the night of the accident. Having been to the crash site in Italy 3 times I knew exactly where my son died (I will put some pictures in the gallery of the area). Recounting the last hours of Dale's life. Having my wife Rosie, my son Jon and brother Andy there to support me, helped me through the long 2 hours that it took for the coroner to give her verdict (which I disagree with) namely : accidental death but added that drink, speed, driver distraction and Dale not wearing his belt correctly were all contibutory factors. It was an accident that should never happened like so many others every day of the week. Dale, wherever you are, we all love and miss you so much. The ride is in your memory and may you be with me every minute of the long journey. Forever trust in who we are because NEM.

Wet Wet Sunday!!

Three of us beared the weather and took to the roads and managed to put a few wet miles under our saddles. The pictures are under the arch in Abingdon and one of Owen dissapointed that the burger van was shut!!

Van Signs

Neil has got some new magnetic signs for the van for the long journey. The message is a simple one as you can see. Please belt up when you get into a car, it will save your life!!

Sainsburys, Witney

Crew Manager Steve Cook from Witney got a crew up (Chris,Foggy, Paul, Adam and big Mike)from Witney fire station and stood outside the doors of Sainsburys (I was there on me bike on the turbo!). The crew managed to rasie the profile of the ride, handing out a least a 1,000 leaflets on Road Safety and raised £519 in 3 1/2 hours. brilliant chaps and thank you to those who dropped in their spare change!!

Spar, Minster Lovell

Treez, Neil, their boys (Sean & Chris), the staff from The Spar (Dave & Lyn), the lads from Burford Fire station raised £250 today, the Spar matched it with another cheque for £250. Fantastic and thank you to all of you who helped and of course who put their hand in their pocket. The cakes (oops their goes the diet!) were well yummy!!

I've been blogged! .............BY TREEZ

The team will be busy again tomorrow, with Neil, Steve, Owen Treez and a crew from Burford at the Spar Minster Lovell............Bob is not resting he will be campaigning to, at Sainsburys Witney with the Witney crew.
Details of how we get on will follow tomorrow evening.
:-)

My Brother Andy

My bro Andy Paterson is coming on the 'Ride for Life' and you can see he has a new shiny red bike, not to mention his new bike helmet. Andy is doing the whole ride with us and is being sponsored by his work 'Miele'.

Open day at Witney

On Sunday 6th May Witney had an excellent open day, we had a campaign stall selling tickets for a treasure hunt on a UK map, selling t-shirts and talking to members of the public about our campaign. In the picture you can see Treez (Neil's lovely wife) and Mike Brooker (he is helping on stage 2 of our journey). The other photo is one of my son Jack sitting on my bike which i rode for 2 hours on a turbo trainer (bit of an eye catching gimic!). Thanks to all who supported our stall. Big thanks to Treez!!

Another car wash!

Last night Steve Jordan and his Wheatley colleagues turned up at Wheatly Service Station to raise some funds from the travelleing M40 public, alas their stay was cut short as they were required at a fire in Oxford (duty calls). That left dave, me and my son Jack holding the collecting tin!! We raised £249 in total. Thank you Wheatley.





At Abingdon fire station today we raised £225 washing an amazing amount of 4 X 4 cars. Thank you to all who helped, the photo is of Big Dave in his little red car!!

Crowmarsh Gifford Primary Scool

This morning I (and Mandy - Road Safety Officer) spoke to Crowmarsh Gifford Primary School at their morning assembly, over 200 pupils and teachers were in the audience. The kids were really great and helped me get the important safety messages across about wearing seatbelts at all times (and wear it correctly), also the importance of wearing helmets on bikes, including wearing a high visability band, to ensure you are seen on the roads. Thank you Crowmarsh for allowing me into your lovely school and being a great audience. Seatbelts will save your lives!!

Filming

Mandy arranged it for me to do a piece to camera for the DVD to be sent to Cornwall, to tell the kids down there about our aims and objestives of the seatbelt Camapign. They will not be able to say hello to us as they will be on a half term break, but hopefully they will have a message or two for us. I belive the school is Cape Cornwall. Alan Fenemore 'Company Training Solutions' did the filming and now the producing. Thanks Alan (nice man who did buy a hand bag off me..long story!).

John Mason School

We (Chris, Mandy and me)visited the school today to see how Dale's close friends in Year 10 are getting on. Also had to celebrate Ruth's birthday with chocolate brownies hand baked by Chris Harris (well nice!). The kids are almost there with only a few things to do now. The official showing will be on 17th May at the School. Really excited to see it.

Quarter of the way!

Today I banked monies from the auction and that took the amount raised so far in connection with Cycle4Seatbelts to just over £5,000. We have three events coming up over the weekend, including a collection at Wheatley services, a car wash and an open day at Witney on Sunday. Thank you everyone who has made a donation.

Carswell Primary School

Yesterday i went to Carswell Primary School to talk about seatbelts and the importance of wearing their cycling helmets and the fluorescent band (My Hero) at all times. This was the school my kids went to (Jon, Hayley and Dale), it was just brilliant to be back at the school (I served as a Governor there for 8 years), to see so many fantastic improvements, but it was just lovely to see all those smiling young faces. Thank you Carswell. I have set them a competition to come up with a name for my bike for the long journey.

Gosford Hill School

I spoke to Gosford Hill School year 10 (approx 180) today about the seatbelt campaign. They all sat and listened with utmost respect and I hope they got my simple but important message - BUCKLE UP! Thank you Gosford for allowing me to tell you my personal story.

New Bike

Due to problems with knee and being told my bike is too small, I have purchased a new one. I've got a LeMond (bought from SBR in Windsor from a nice chap called Steve!). Now to get back on the bike and start training.