The Cut Gate campaign [read more here] is going great guns. Since it kicked off down in London back in November, the Mend Our Mountains: Make One Million appeal has reached over £200,000. That is a massive achievement for the campaign overall – thank you, thank you thank you to everyone who has put money in; every single pound truly does make a difference [The Domino Effect], and we can’t thank you enough for sparing what you have.
But there’s still along way to go. And we need you to get the biking community behind it.
A quick reminder – Peak District MTB, Ride Sheffield and Keeper of the Peak have teamed up with the British Mountaineering Council (BMC), Peak District National Park Authority and Moors for the Future to slab the bogs on top of Cut Gate and put a bit of stone pitching into the bit that goes over the edge. We’re four months into the year long campaign.
The BMC tells us that the Peak District projects – Great Ridge and Cut Gate – are leading the national pack, but we’re not there yet. We don’t yet know our exact figures either – we do know that we need to do a lot more though.
One thing we will be doing is coming up with some milestone targets – sponsor a slab; pay for the chopper fuel – to make it easier for you to see where you donations are going. But ultimately it does all come down to the funds.
And that’s where we really need your help. A call to arms, a request for help – we really need you to get involved.
Over the coming months we’ve got a few things coming up. First up, we’re having a raffle with some pretty awesome prizes. We’ll be selling tickets and making the draw sometime in May. Two things you can do here: buy tickets (natch) OR donate raffle prizes. We want to make this the biggest booty seen this side of the Gadget Show, so do please get in touch if you or your company can help out. Tickets on sale soon, so stay tuned to peakdistrictmtb.org for details.
On June 24th (save the date!), there’ll be a sponsored ride from Hayfield over to the Norfolk Arms in Sheffield. It’s about 50km, will be social pace and hopefully we’ll make a load of money for the campaign as a result. Thanks so much to Peak District MTB member Chrissy for organising this. Again, more details coming up.
Friends of Peak District MTB Cafe Adventure will be holding the Cafe Adventure Weekender – April 27-29. Loads of guided rides, good food, good beer. Get along to the best mountain biking cafe in the Peak District and put some money in a bucket for Mend Our Mountains. Project partners will be there too to answer any of your questions.
So lots happening to support the campaign – but we still need to do more.
Can you help? What can you do?
Well, tell everyone about the campaign. Online, on your next ride, in the pub, the cafe, school, college, uni, work. Do some fundraising: got some old kit to sell? Donate the proceeds! That jam jar full of 5ps? Bung it this way. Know a business who can help out? Get them on board. We really do need every bit of help you can give us. And not just in the biking world. Horse riders, walkers, fell runners – please do what you can to get everyone behind it. And donate, donate, donate.
This is a direct call to you. Let’s prove what the mountain biking community can achieve. Who knows what it might lead to?
