Charity reaches target thanks to bike ride

3:08pm Wednesday 4th June 2008

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PEOPLE from all walks of life are returning to their Salisbury homes after helping to raise £1.2m for the hugely-successful Help for Heroes charity.

More than 30 people from in and around the city gave their support to the charity, started by Downton couple, Bryn and Emma Parry, by cycling 350 miles across northern France, visiting significant sites from the first and second world wars.

The Halfords Help for Heroes Bike Ride finished in central London on Sunday with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the Horse Guards parade.

Mr Parry said: "We had a group of wounded soldiers with us who have been absolutely inspirational.

"It has been a privilege and an honour to have been on the same ride with such wonderful people."

Mr Parry and his wife, who led the ride along with their two daughters, launched the charity in October last year and have now reached their £6million target to build a swimming pool and gym complex for wounded soldiers at Headley Court, the tri-service rehabilitation centre in Surrey.

Many soldiers and others with forces' connections joined the ride, including 41-year-old Karen Lenthall, from Bulford, whose husband is serving in Basra.

She said: "The final day has to be one of the highlights. It was amazing cycling through London having so much support. Hundreds and hundreds of people cheering you on and realising that you'd completed the ride - it was a magnificent experience."

The riders, ranging in age from 18 to 80, started at HMS Victory in Portsmouth on Monday and the first stop was Pegasus Bridge, the first part of France to be liberated onD-Day in 1944, where a wreath-laying ceremony took place with Madame Arlette Gondree, whose house was the first home liberated when she was just four years old.

For many, day five was the most moving day of the ride.

The cyclists rode to Thiepval in the heart of the Somme where they held a wreath-laying ceremony by the British memorial, erected for the 72,000 men who died during the Battle of the Somme - and whose bodies have never been found.

Richard Barrett, 60, from Whiteparish said: "There was one day when it rained constantly but I don't think it mattered very much because we took part in various wreath-laying ceremonies, and the one at Thiepval was one of the most moving ceremonies of all.

"The weather wasn't on our side and it was challenging, but there was a great sense of camaraderie. The most awesome thing was seeing these guys with their injuries powering on, they were just amazing."