Capital bike ride for Stockport Scopeguide appeal

A grandfather and grandson team are cycling from London to Hazel Grove to raise money for Stepping Hill Hospital’s Scopeguide appeal.

Not content with recently successfully cycling from Holyhead in North Wales to Hazel Grove, Derek Farndell, 68, and his grandson Lewis Regel, 15, will be riding from Finchley Road in London to Torkington Park in Hazel Grove on Friday 16^th August, and Saturday 17^th  a distance of over 150 miles.

Derek is riding to thank Stepping Hill hospital staff for the care they gave him when he was severely ill in intensive care.

Following major surgery, Derek was in an induced coma for over four days. Although his life was severely threatened, thankfully he was able to recover and go home with the help of the hospital’s surgical, ITU and medical teams.

Since then former JCB driver Derek, husband to Mary, a dad of three, granddad of five, and great-granddad of one, has been busy helping to raise money for the hospital’s Scopeguide appeal.

The ScopeGuide will help patients who are undergoing complex procedures such as colonoscopies by making examinations quicker, easier and more comfortable. The fund needs £40,000, and is currently more than half way there with over £26,000 thanks to many generous donations from the public.

Derek said

“I hadn’t ridden in over 20 years before I started training for the Wales to Stockport ride, but I really got into it in the end, and Lewis did too. We’re  determined to raise as much as we can for the Scopeguide fund, so we’re both going the extra miles!”

Derek and Lewis’s journey will take in Milton Keynes, Leicester, Coventry round Birmingham, Stoke, Stafford and Macclesfield before finishing off at Torkington Park in Hazel Grove, where they will be a Gazebo and bucket collection awaiting their return between 9:00am and 5:00pm on Saturday 17^th  August.