Enville2Kyiv - Enville CC / Ukraine Fundraiser

I hope you are all well and happy new year to those who I haven't already seen or been in contact with!

In light of the terrible events that have been taking place in Ukraine recently, I have been discussing the idea of putting on a fundraiser on behalf of our cricket club in order to help raise funds to help those that have been affected by the atrocities.

Personally, I don't think walking 50 miles in a single day was a big enough challenge for us, so I am proposing the following.

On April 2nd @ Enville Pavillion - A sponsored 3276-mile bike ride. (That's Enville to Kyiv... and back again!) Obviously, this would be a collective effort and not individually. This target will be achieved by teams of a minimum of 10 persons on exercise bikes cycling in hour-long intervals.

Due to the nature of the challenge it would be an all-day / night event, with cycling to commence at 6am and continuing until we reach our target or until we reach an agreed cut-off time but ideally, it would be an amazing achievement if we could hit the mileage.

After lengthy discussions with Rachel Tonks, we have suggested that to maximise the day we would like to include the following...

Breakfast club serving Tea, Coffee, breakfast sandwiches etc
> Live music (in the form of DJs, and/or acoustic music)
> Raffle
> Live Sport
> Cake sale
> ...and of course, the bar open!

We will be actively encouraging as much media coverage as possible (Live feeds on Facebook, Instagram) and will use our contacts within the local press (Stourbridge news, Black Country Radio) to further our outreach to maximise our fundraising.

Equipment
After making inquiries regarding the hire of exercise bikes it comes out far too expensive, however, I have already been in contact with several local gyms who have in principle agreed to lend us equipment to support our efforts. I have a few more calls to make to ensure we have the bikes available but after two phone calls, we already have at least two.

In return for their kindness in lending the equipment and supporting this very worthy cause I have ensured them that they shall be acknowledged via our social media outlets and that they are more than welcome to join us on the day.

While we have a decent amount of members I think this is also an excellent opportunity to reach out to the local community and the Enville villagers inviting them to the club to support the event. We don't tend to get many visitors from the village so this would present an excellent opportunity to extend an arm to them and include them in our efforts... the more the merrier!

The cycling

As mentioned above cycling will be done in minimum groups of 10, with groups allocated specific time slots to ensure fluidity and maximise cycling times throughout the course of the challenge. I would propose that Captains or a representative from each team organise riders to cycle for an hour's slot... (Some of us fitter folks can probably do a few stints!)

If any of you have done the maths already you'll have worked out that 100 people doing 32 miles each doesn't even hit our target which is why it will be important to utilise all of our connections and contacts to make this a success.

We have strong links to Oldswinford CC, The Bedouins, and Kinver CC as well as a large Junior section to exploit. I shall also be inviting any gyms or organisations helping with equipment to get involved in whatever capacity they can, again... the more the merrier!

If anyone has any thoughts on how we can further enhance what would be a fantastic event for all involved then shout up! It will definitely need as many people helping as possible to make it a success.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Tom Jackson (ECC)