The Riding for Reading team plan to cycle to 10 major cities in the UK

How it all started:

The Riding for Reading team came together last summer through a summer course at Fleming Family and Partners. During the course the participants were divided into teams to produce an idea for raising £10,000 for a charity of their choice. Riding for Reading was the winning pitch to raise money for Room to Read, an education charity. The original team, and other interns who are keen to help, have stayed together to raise the money.

Room to Read:

Room to Read partners with local communities throughout the developing world to establish schools, libraries, and other educational infrastructure, including funding scholarships for underprivileged young girls. They seek to intervene early in the lives of children in the belief that education is a lifelong gift that empowers people to ultimately improve socioeconomic conditions for their families, communities, countries, and future generations. Through the opportunities that only an education can provide, we strive to break the cycle of poverty, one child at a time.
Organisational efforts are currently focused on Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Zambia – all countries with a desperate lack of resources to adequately educate their children.
Ten thousand pounds would be enough money for Room to Read to build another school in Asia or Africa to give more children a better start in life.

The Plan: 10 Cities 10 Days 700 Miles-

The Riding for Reading team plan to cycle to 10 major cities in the UK and visit a school in each city. Each school will run a competition before the cyclists arrive in which pupils would write a 1 page story about a day in their life. The winning story from each year group in every school will be put into a book which will be sold to raise a substantial part of the money. Each school which participates will have a chapter for their pupils stories. We hope to raise the rest of the money by contributions and sponsorship from individuals, school fundraisers and businesses.
The cycle is planned to take place in the week beginning the 23rd June 2009.

The cities visited will be:
Edinburgh, Newcastle,
Leeds, Manchester,
Birmingham, Cardiff,
Bristol, Oxford,
London.

Current Status:

The riding for Reading team is currently finalising the plan for the cycle and getting together a public face for the challenge. The next step is to produce a cohesive 1-page pitch to use to raise support from businesses and schools.