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Chris Cogswell with his bike, on which he will cycle from Land's End to John O'Groats in aid of Birmingham St Mary's Hospice

Birmingham Man Takes on End-to-End Challenge

 

August 6, 2010

A Birmingham man is gearing up for a gruelling cycling challenge in aid of the City’s only independent adult hospice. 

Chris Cogswell, aged 29, of Kings Heath, will be pedalling all the way from Land’s End in Cornwall to John O’Groats in Scotland at the end of August and hopes to raise £1,000 if not more for Birmingham St Mary’s. 

Chris is to cycle around 950 miles on a bike he built from scratch. And he looks well prepared for the challenge, as the budding triathlete rode the entire length of Scotland last year. 

“Cycling the length of the country is something I’ve wanted to do for a while and I decided that when I did it, it would be for Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, as my family have supported the charity for a long time. It will be a challenge but I’ve been training for a triathlon so I’m keeping myself in good shape,” he said. 

Chris decided to cycle from south to north, in an attempt to get the most difficult part out of the way first when he takes to the saddle on August 29. 

“You might think Scotland with all its mountains would be the hardest part but I found when cycling it before there are a lot of flat stretches. In the Westcountry, however, there are a lot of long, rolling hills which I expect to be quite difficult,” Chris said. 

Hospice Head of Fundraising Caroline Taylor thanked Chris for his support for Birmingham St Mary’s and made an appeal to individuals and companies to sponsor him. 

“This is the classic charity challenge, of which Chris will be able to be extremely proud. I would like to wish him all the best and urge people to sponsor him. It would be really nice to see a City company get behind Chris and match anything he raises,” she said. 

The end-to-end fundraiser is one of many events Chris’s family have organised in support of the Hospice. His grandma Thelma is a long-standing volunteer and has made more than 10,500 jars of jam and marmalade for the charity.  

Aunt Rosemary has also made a big impact, making jewellery and helping out at the Hospice’s summer fete in July. Between them the family have raised well in excess of £4,000. 

Since its launch in 1979, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for tens of thousands of people with life-limiting illnesses, such as cancer, motor neurone disease and MS.

With around 52 percent of the Hospice’s budget reliant on public goodwill, community fundraising is crucial to ensuring its highly specialised services can continue to be offered to the people of Birmingham and Sandwell. 

In addition to a 25-bed Inpatient Unit, Birmingham St Mary’s boasts a 20-place Day Hospice and provides community care to people who wish to stay in their own homes.  

The Hospice also supports relatives with bereavement preparation, physiotherapy tuition and counselling in addition to many other services.  

Annual running costs stand at £6.3 million, with around £1 million being raised in the Hospice’s shops and £2.7 million via community fundraising events. The remainder comes from the NHS. 

Birmingham St Mary’s nurses, often referred to by patients and relatives as ‘angels’, are renowned for going that extra mile to ensure people with terminal illnesses enjoy the best possible quality of life.  

To make a donation to Chris’s cycling challenge please go to: www.justgiving.com/Coggys-end2end.