Riders go extra mile to raise £4k for Bury St Edmunds school

A group of fund-raisers have raised more than £4,000 for a Bury St Edmunds school for children with learning disabilities after tackling a 100km nighttime bike ride.

The team of ten took part in the Nightrider challenge in London on June 6 in aid of Riverwalk School, which takes pupils with severe, profound or multiple learning needs.

Fund-raiser Carly Wharf, whose five-year-old son Alec attends Riverwalk, was inspired to tackle the ride after her husband Barry Wharf and father Richard Bennett completed it last year.

The 32-year-old labelled the group’s fund-raising total of £4,200 ‘amazing’.

“We had a figure in our heads but achieving what we did was just great. We’re really chuffed,” she said.

“I’m the only one with a child in the school so it’s great my friends and family wanted to join in.”

To help out the riders Riverwalk donated £600 towards their entry fees for the challenge.

Carly, Barry and Richard, with other family members and friends, took a total of six hours to complete the track through the capital.

“We were relieved when we reached the end, it was a great sense of achievement,” said Carly, who lives in Brandon.

“It wasn’t about how long it took us, it was about how much money we could raise.

“Biking around London at night was unreal, and seeing it by bike as well.”

Carly’s grandmother June Bennett, 86, said she was ‘very proud’ of son Richard, 60.

“He has just achieved another charity bike ride, in aid of his grandson’s son Alec’s school,” she said.

The donation will help towards equipment and trips for the school, or to construct a new sensory room.

Plans are afoot for another fund-raiser next year in aid of a national or local cause for autism, from which Alec and a fellow fund-raiser’s son suffer.