It’s seems it’s all the rage these days to say you’re riding for someone or something. There’s even people riding just for the fun of it in among those riding for everything from cancer to a free lunch.
I’ve ummed and ahhed about it, shuffled from foot to foot awkwardly and can’t avoid the fact that I’d like to do something useful with riding the Etape du Tour. And that something is raising funds for a local charity, Roy Kinnear House, which helps young people with profound disabilities. You can donate using the paypal button below.
EDIT – DONATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
I first heard about Roy Kinnear House in an interview with Rory Kinnear in 2008 who explains what they do and why:
“‘Karina is six years older than me, but she has a mental age of about nine or 10 months so she was effectively the baby of the household. Until she was 19, she was in a number of different homes for the disabled, but then the funding ran out. There were two choices: either she could go to a home in Norfolk, which was miles away from where she lived, or she could come and live with us. My Mum and Dad had talked about setting up a small home for disabled adults in the area. At her wits’ end, my Mum started up this charity and put on a show at the Olivier. It was the first charity show they’d ever had at the National and it raised around £40,000.’
The money went towards buying a bungalow in Twickenham. Over the next five years, Carmel Cryan raised another £1 million and Roy Kinnear House, which provides a home for eight young adults with profound disabilities – including Karina – opened in 1995”
I’ve long been a fan of Roy Kinnear as an actor. His turn as Planchet in Richard Lester’s Musketeers films never fails to raise a warm smile in my heart. Anyone who has not seen The Three Musketeers (and The Four Musketeers)
Were it not for his tragic and untimely death he’d still be being feted as one of the great character actors of his generation. Everything I’ve read and heard about him suggests he was a wonderful human being.
I’ve ridden past Roy Kinnear House countless times now on my way out to Surrey. It’s the sort of charity which does vital work which goes much undervalued because it’s not particularly easy to reduce down to a wristband.
So as someone who lives without the challenges of disability, I thought riding my bike might be a nice way to raise some money to help Roy Kinnear House do its valuable work.
On their site they list some of ways donations can help them:
- £10 would provide a trip to Kingston for the cinema or for a bowling session
- £25 would cover the cost of renting an adapted van so that residents can out for the day
- £50 would cover the cost of a 1:1 music therapy session
- £75 would provide an extra member of staff to accompany a resident to with their family for the day
- £100 would pay for live musicians to come to the house and perform for the residents
- £200 would enable us to put a raised flowerbed in the garden so that residents can get really involved in the gardening
- £400 would enable us to redecorate a resident’s bedroom
- Any amount could be added to our savings fund dedicated to extending the house to create more space for everyone and to improve the kitchen facilities and make them more accessible for residents in their wheelchairs – we are aiming to do this during 2010
I’m not great with targets and goals, so I’d just like to ask you to donate whatever you can to help the charity. I’d like to think that I’d could at least persuade you all to raise enough for a few raised flowerbeds.
They’re not currently on justgiving or similar sites but I’ve stuck a Paypal Donate button below to gather up any donations you’d like to make which I’ll then pass on in full to the charity.
EDIT – DONATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED
I’ll keep the donations link in for a couple of weeks so you can either donate beforehand or wait until you see if I make it round to decide.