I'm 84-years-old and I'm cycling to help my fellow South Shields care home residents go out on day trips

Staff, residents and their relatives at the Garden Hill Care Home, on St Michael's Avenue, in South Shields are taking on a virtual cycling challenge to help raise funds for activities and day trips.

The three-week challenge is aiming to raise money for the Residents’ Comfort Fund and is seeing those taking part pedal 515 miles from Northumberland to Penzance, on the south coast.

Stacey Adams, lifestyle coordinator, has told the Shields Gazette where the idea for the challenge came from and that the team are well on their way to beating a target of cycling 20 miles a day.

She said: “We want to give the best lives to our residents but our funds were depleting so we thought that a good way to get an injection of cash would be to do something big.

“We haven’t done anything like this before and one of the things we came up with was this idea to do a virtual bike ride.

“We asked Lee Tiffin, the owner of Black Sheep Fitness Academy, who is the grandson of one of our residents if we could use a bike and he dropped it off for us without hesitation.

“The aim is to cover around 20 miles every day but we did something like 81 miles in just the first three days so we are well on our way to beating that.

“It has been a lovely team building exercise for us all because we’ve all got a common goal - it has been a lovely atmosphere full of comradery.”

Stacey also explained what the Residents’ Comfort Fund is for and how it will be spent once the challenge is complete.

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She added: “The fund enhances the lives of our residents and allows them to have something extra.

“They are well looked after by us which is all well and good but they need stimulation and to be kept active.

“So this will be provided in the form of entertainers or trips out.

“We recently had a trip out to the beach, where we had fish and chips, so the money that we raise will go to things like that.”

You can find out more about the Garden Hill Care Home by visiting: https://www.mmcgcarehomes.co.uk/care-homes/garden-hill-care-home-south-shields.

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