Sheila’s Wheels raise £6,500 for Lost Chord Charity 2013
THE novice bikers of Sheila’s Wheels hit the road to raise money for dementia charity Lost Chord…and clocked up a fabulous £6,500 over a 115 mile trek!
Grandma Sheila Orton, of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, had Alzheimer’s disease and spent the last few months of her life in the town’s Amethyst House Residential Home.
It was there that she was entertained by musicians from Lost Chord, the charity that provides vital interactive musical stimulation for people living with dementia in care homes and day centres.
Following her death, her family decided they wanted to do something for Lost Chord as a thank you for the pleasure the organisation’s professional musicians brought to Sheila’s life.
And so Sheila’s Wheels was born – a sponsored six man bike ride from Amethyst House, Doncaster to Northampton’s Grange Inn.
The event was organised by Sheila’s grandson Dean Wilburn and Darren Curtis, whose partner Lindsey was Sheila’s granddaughter.
“We wanted to do an event that gave something back in Sheila’s memory,” said Darren, who is originally from Northampton but now lives in Doncaster.
“We left Amethyst at 6.50 on Sunday morning as the sun was rising,” said Darren.
“It was extremely cold but we reached our 42 mile checkpoint, The Unicorn Pub in Gunthorpe, Notts on time at 10am.”
It was not long after, though, that the rain started to pour and spirits started to sink.
We reached our second checkpoint, The Queens Head in Billsdon with a couple of the team really struggling with injury and all of us struggling with the weather,” said Darren.
“The owner of the pub donated us soup and tea which helped warm us up a little and then we set of for Orton in Northamptonshire – 19 miles in rain and relentless cold.
“We finally arrived at the Grange Inn in Northampton to a heroes’ welcome with around 150 people lining the street with banners, horns and flags and braving the weather to see us home.
