Pedal4 Patients, our fundraising bike ride with two distances, 65 or 45 miles from Brentwood to Romford, is taking place on Sunday 29 April.

With just over a week to go riders are ready and raring to get going – and if you’re a  keen cyclists you don’t need to miss out, as there are still spaces if you’d like to sign up.

The ride is being organised in partnership by our charity and Stuart Wilks, who became a fundraising champion for the charity after his daughter Charlotte was stillborn at Queen’s Hospital in 2016.

He and wife Sarah were keen to give something back after they were so well supported by staff, and he’s already raised around £7,000. He started fundraising to make improvements to the Snowdrop Suite, which is for families to spend time after the loss of a baby.

Among the riders starting off will be colleagues Mark Chinnery and Steven Last, from our Estates team.

They hope to raise as much as possible for our Palliative Care team to go towards a specialist child-friendly room from families facing the death of a loved one.

The dedicated room would give families space and privacy at a difficult time, the chance to spend a few moments together, share bad news with a child or just be together.

Mark and Steven, already keen cyclists, decided to sign up after hearing about this initiative. You can support Mark and Steven via their fundraising page.

Or like them, you could choose to donate the money you raise to any department you like at either Queen’s or King George hospitals.

Pedal4 Patients will be a great opportunity to get on your bike, meet like-minded people and enjoy a good ride. It’s fully marshalled and signposted and there are feed stations throughout – at local pubs no less! So what are you waiting for? Sign up via pedal4patients.org.uk.