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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Monday, 20 May 2013. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
CHURCH goers from the Oxford Diocese are set to complete two epic bike rides to raise money for charities. Veteran cyclist Douglas Aspinall, 72, from St Michael's Church, Tilehurst, is riding 4,200 kilometres from Bracknell to Istanbul in a bid to raise £10,000 to buy furniture for a girls' dormitory in Erenje, Zambia. He set off on Thursday 18 April with Howard Reece-Smith and his wife Elizabeth and Ralph Hazel.
Douglas's wife Carole is the support driver. It is part of an ongoing project between Kerith Community Church, Tearfund and the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia. Expenses for the trip are being met by the riders.
Meanwhile, Simon and Wendy Gundry, from St Peter and St Paul's Church, Long Hanborough, near Witney are preparing to cycle around the outline of Haiti, without leaving the UK.
Along with their children, Hannah, 13 and Sam, 10, who will be joining them for legs of the journey, they will be cycling to raise funds for the work of child development charity Compassion, in Haiti.
They sponsor two children in Haiti through Compassion and want to raise more funds after hearing of the desperate conditions which many Haitians face post the 2010 disaster.
To sponsor Douglas go to www.justgiving.com/serenjefurniture. To sponsor Simon and Wendy go to www.justgiving.com/TourofHaiti