Memorial Trophy Presentation

The Patrick Bickers Memorial Trophy, for corporate team entries, was presented to the winning team Erudine by Patrick’s eldest son Luke at an informal ceremony in their Harrogate offices at Central House, Harlow Hill, on Thursday 19th November 2009.

Luke was unable to attend the recent Presentation Night on 6th, where the trophy was received from Macmillan’s area fundraising

manager, Roohi Lupton by Hugh Beever.

Erudine are one of the sponsors of the Great Milk (stout) Ride and Luke said that he was particularly pleased to see a local company win the trophy in its inaugural year and hoped this would be an inspiration to other local and regional firms to get involved in supporting this fundraising event, which has been able to present over £400,000 to Macmillan since its beginnings in 1993 and is their principal fundraiser in the Harrogate area.

Erudine is a highly innovative software development company. Started in 2002 by Pateley Bridge born brothers Martin and Phil Rice, Erudine is set to revolutionise the IT industry with its radical new technology - Erudine’s Behaviour Engine. http://www.erudine.com/home

Photo above shows, l-r, Cliff Barton (GMsR), Oliver Pursaill, Colin Froggatt, Dave Stephenson, Luke Bickers (GMsR), Hugh Beever.

Below: some of the Erudine team discuss their experiences after completing this year's Full Monty Ride

Stout Riders celebrating 17 years of Macmillan Cancer Support pass £400,000

Ye Olde Oak Inn, Low Laithe near Pateley Bridge on Friday 6th November, was again the venue for the Presentation Night for the 17th annual Great Milk (stout) Ride, when Macmillan area fund raising manager, Roohi Lupton, was handed a cheque for £30,000, the culmination of another year’s pedalling by over 480 riders on 6th September. This took donations to Macmillan, since 1993 to over £400,000.

Before the proceedings started, Roohi Lupton demonstrated her other skills on the pool table, defeating several of the local "experts"!!

The efforts of the riders was this year augmented by three events kindly organised by two Nidderdale ladies (reported in earlier blogs). Firstly the annual Strawberry Fayre, which is staged by Marion Stockdale and her friends at her home in Clapham Green realised £822; the other two events were organised by Sandra Bradley of Dacre Banks, who with her team ran two very successful Dining-for-Macmillan events at Fewston and Dacre village halls in August and October, which between them raised £1250 towards the final total of this year’s Ride. Spokesman for the Great Milk (stout) Ride, Cliff barton, expressed the appreciation of the organising committee for the efforts of these two teams and hoped that more volunteers wishing to come forward with other fundraising ideas would get in touch on either 01423 780389 or bartoncliff@btopenworld.com to discuss their ideas and what support they might require.

Roohi Lupton was then invited to present the trophies to the leading fundraisers in the following categories:
The Rob Smith Memorial Team Challenge Trophy, for any non-pub team was won, for the third year in a row, by team Practice-Makes-Perfect, alias the Nidderdale Group Practice, from Feastfield Surgery, Pateley Bridge, Grange Medical Centre, Dacre Banks and Spring Gables Surgery, Birstwith, with a winning total of £1540.
The Pub Challenge Shield was won by first time entrants Pateley Club, whose team of six raised £1090. In addition their “bucket-on-the-bar” produced another £117. The trophy was presented to club steward, Dennis Bell, who is also a founding member of the Great Milk (stout) Ride in 1993 and who has completed every ride since then
The Fancy Dress Trophy was won this year by the Flintstones from Kirkburton, who were even selling rides to children on the day.
The Rob Smith Memorial Trophy for the Individual Challenge was again won by Geoff Hoffman, who has relatives living in Glasshouses, with £895.
The Patrick Bickers Memorial Trophy for corporate entries, in memory of one of the founding committee members of the ride from 1993 and who devised and managed the registration system, was won by Harrogate based innovative software development company, Erudine with £564. The trophy is a quaish bowl, from which the piper at a Scottish dinner, would be offered a dram of malt whisky, which he would down in one. Patrick was very fond of his malts, of which he had quite a collection.

After assisting with drawing the square board raffle and presenting the prizes, Roohi Lupton thanked everyone involved in the organising and taking part in the annual Great Milk (stout) Ride over the years and congratulated them on passing the £400,000 mark. She stressed the importance of this continued support in the Harrogate district, with entries now coming from as far afield as London and even the Channel Islands.

A pie and peas supper was provided by landlady Debbie Marshall, with all proceeds going to Macmillan.

After Hugh Beever of Erudine had inserted a dram into the bowl, treasurer, Bob Drake demonstrated how to use the quaish; apparently after downing the dram in one, the piper would tip the bowl over and kissed the bottom to show that all the whisky had gone!

Halloween event a treat for Stout Ride

Saturday 31st October, Sandra Bradley and her team of helpers held a successful Dining-for-Macmillan event in Dacre and Hartwith Village Hall, when they raised £493 in support of this year’s annual Great Milk (stout) Ride. Adding this to the proceeds of a similar event held at Fewston they were able to hand over £1250 to the treasurer Bob Drake, who expressed grateful thanks on behalf of the organising committee

Halloween event supporting Stout Ride

Saturday 31st October will see the final effort in support of this year’s 17th annual Great Milk (stout) Ride take place at Dacre and Hartwith Village Hall, in Dacre Banks.

Sandra Bradley and her team of helpers will be holding a Dining-for-Macmillan event between 11am and 3pm, where they will be selling hot food (including pumpkin soup), teas, cakes, etc., to passing motorists. A similar event at Fewston Village Hall, earlier this year realised over £750. All the proceeds will go to swell the coffers of the popular Dales charity bike ride in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Presentation Night

On Friday 6th November at Ye Olde Oak Inn, Low Laithe, Macmillan area fund raising manager, Roohi Lupton, will receive the cheque for this year’s Great Milk (stout) Ride. With a record 486 riders out on the day, including 48 teams, a spokesman for the ride was hopeful that this year would enable the committee to hand over yet another record cheque. He stressed the importance of riders ensuring that their sponsorship monies should be handed over by Monday 2nd November at the latest to the treasurer at Tranby Croft, Glasshouses, HG3 5QY cheques payable to GMsR. To enable us to collect a further 28p in the pound via Gift Aid, donors should indicate their wish and supply their address. Late payments will be accepted on the night in emergency.

Record numbers for 17th Great Milk (stout) Ride

Queue at Jackie's Diner Dave Donnely recycles numbers Sharon Coglan (Accoutic Blue)




James Wilson (Fresh Radio) Flintstones R - GO Sid Brayshaw and grandson Matty




Time Warp take the stage Roger Jefferson glad to be back Team Kent Alarms


Matty Barton glad to be back Michael gets it wrong? Leeds team Dirty Wheels

Flashing to the finish Part of Carly's Angels team Part of team VIRR's 30 riders

Five of Pateley Club team Flintstones ready to push off! Practice makes Perfect team

Start of 20 mile Full Monty Start of 10 mile Half Litre

The 17th annual Great Milk (stout) Ride was blessed with perfect weather last Sunday 6th September. The daily digest of sporadic rain over the previous two weeks started to evaporate on the Saturday easing the tasks of the small group of committee members in their various duties, including signing the two routes for the 20 mile Full Monty and the 10 mile Half Litre rides, setting up the barbecue, tombola, beer tent, bringing chairs, erecting the direction signs for the car park, etc.

The committee left the site at 5.pm with fingers firmly crossed, some (with hankies at the ready) to chop up 7 kilos of onions ready for next day’s burgers.

At 7.30am on Sunday their prayers were answered: ideal conditions prevailed namely light thin
cloud and just the right temperature for our riders. By 8.30am the bacon butties were ready to welcome the first to register. The trickle developed into a steady stream and by 9.15 a torrent of riders seeking the queue for their number. By the end of Saturday 351 had registered on line.

Before the first riders were set on their at 10.05 a further 120 had registered on the day, making this the largest number (471) “on the day” to be sent on their way by the Ride’s top fundraiser Harold Turner, of Rothwell (rt above). Harold has personally raised over £60,000 since the second ride in 1994 until 2008.

Records to be broken

Another record this year was the entry of 48 teams ranging from Harrogate’s 30 strong Team VIRR, Pateley Bridge Practice-makes-Perfect team of 20 doctors and staff from the Nidderdale group, Dacre Son & Hartley’s Ilkley (17), Carly’s Angels (17), Team Simon (13), Harrogate medal sponsors Erudine (12), Leeds’ Dirty Wheels (7),RAF Menwith Hill’s Liam’s Angels (4) to Pateley Bridge’s Team Deanie (2).
Unusual names emerged including Tied in Notts, Steady Away, Neonemon, How Wats, 3 Ladies and Jimmy, NY Coureurs and Otley’s The Sunshine Boys.

Although the committee stresses “it’s a Ride NOT a Race” the first riders reappeared at the finishing line in just on the hour, to collect their certificates and medals and a welcome bottle of water, kindly sponsored by Harrogate computer software company Erudine and Yorkshire Water, respectively.

If music be…..

As the trickle became a flood of riders collecting their certificates and medals, the first of four local bands, Time Warp, began their set, followed throughout the afternoon by Accoustic Blue, with Sharon Colgan, The Hall Brothers, with Sarah Carey 14 (above), a very talented young lady, who plays guitar and sang some of her own songs. Sarah has recorded a CD “Painting Rainbows”, which is on sale at £5 to raise money for Martin House Children’s Hospice. Sarah’s website is
www.myspace.com/sarahcarey The afternoon’s entertainment was brought to an end by Harrogate’s Ade Payne, but not before the audience had demanded two encores. These local artists give of their talents free of charge, as they have been doing for many years and the committee would like to express their sincere thanks for their continued support.

Throughout the day “Jackie’s Diner” was kept busy serving a variety of barbecued items including locally supplied burgers, sausages, bacon, with various drinks. The team laboured ceaselessly and realised a total profit to Macmillan of £900. Our photo shows the queue during the lunchtime session.

James Wilson from Fresh Radio for the Dales was on hand to provide continuity and live interviews throughout the day. He has taken a very good video of the start, which can be viewed on YOU TUBE by typing Great Milk (stout) Ride 2009. Fresh Radio is one of our media sponsors along with Stray FM and Ackrill Media Group. The committee would like to express their thanks again to their other sponsors: Erudine, Cartridge World, Deakin Accountancy Ltd., Yorkshire Water, Houseman International, Branch Auto Bodies (Ilkley), EW Smith & Co., QPS Group, AMPS News Ltd., The Cheridan Raithby Charitable Trust and Birchfield Ice Cream Ltd.

A spokesman commenting on this year’s event said “with the record entry of both individuals and teams, we could well be looking to exceed last year’s total of £40,000 to Macmillan. We have already received earlier contributions from Marion Stockdale’s annual Strawberry Fayre and Sandra Bradley’s recent Fewston Teas, which she intends to replicate at Dacre Banks Village Hall on Saturday October 31st. We have until the Presentation Night Friday 6th November at Ye Olde Oak Inn, Low Laithe, to get all the money in. Donations can be sent to the treasurer at Tranby Croft, Glasshouses, HG3 5QY cheques payable to GMsR. To enable us to collect a further 28p in the pound via Gift Aid, donors should indicate their wish and supply their address”.

To see James Wilson's video click here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7CyCG7wOX8

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS

Below are details of our sponsors, which will be displayed on A3 boards on Sunday 6th September in the Registration tent, enabling members of the public to see who is supporting the Great Milk (stout) Ride and give them the opportunity to patronise them in return.

On behalf of the committee may we say a big thank you to our sponsors for their continued support, which has greatly contributed to the on-going success of the event.

Harrogate IT specialists save the day

The organising committee of the Great Milk (stout) Ride are pleased (and relieved) to announce that Oriium Consulting based in Harrogate have stepped in to offer a fantastic lifeline to the on-going event.

As our regular riders will all know, we have been fortunate to have an excellent website that allows riders and teams to register with such ease, besides keeping them informed of any related events, news of our sponsors, etc. Sadly we were informed last week that the website was under threat as the current hosts could no longer provide help for the service we require. As you can imagine, with the ride so close we needed to resolve the matter quickly. Oriium have stepped up, and we are pleased to announce the site is now their capable hands, and will go from strength to strength in the coming months, without anyone noticing the changeover.

Oriium Consulting was started a little over two years ago by Chris Kiaie, they provide all aspects of IT support to UK commerce. You can visit their site at www.oriium.co.uk.

Early morning visit to Stray FM

Thursday 27th August at 8am was the time when Cliff Barton was scheduled to meet Chris Bell of Harrogate’s Stray FM breakfast show, to talk about this year’s 17th annual Great Milk (stout) Ride. Chris, photographed here with Cliff after the interview, was well briefed on this annual district-wide event, conceived at the Birchtree Inn Wilsill in 1993, when the 29 riders, who raised £1350, little realised just what they were starting and never dreamed that seventeen years later they would be gearing up to pass the £400,000 total handed over to Macmillan Cancer Support since that date.

Stray FM has been one of our media supporters since the early days, with regular free mentions on air through their Community Action Desk scheme, which promotes local charity events.

Local bands for Stout Ride 2009

At 11.45 am, with the riders in this year’s Great Milk (stout) Ride on their way, what is now a regular mini music festival will begin, with a limited number of local groups and bands, each performing for about an hour, supported by a barbecue, beer tent, face painting, trade stands, bouncy castle, bucking bronco and various trade stands.
The family fun will continue until late afternoon. James Wilson from Fresh Radio, http://www.freshradio.co.uk/ will be providing continuity announcements and interviews during the day. Kevin Branch of “Washburn Creek” will again be organising the PA system
The schedule is as follows:
· 11.45am – 12.30pm Timewarp (Dave Knaggs)
· 12.45pm – 1.30 pm Accoustic Blue are Sharon Colgan (right vocals), Laurie Hopkins(guitar),Brian Longhurst(bass),Jason Odle(keys). They play original music and cover great artists like Eric Clapton, Robben ford, Susan Tedechi, Eva Cassidy, Portishead Walter and many more. See http://www.bluesville.co.uk/ for more info and pictures.
· 1.45pm – 2.30pm Ade Payne. See excellent YouTube video by Nobody Films of Harrogate at http://www.adepayne.com/
· 2.45pm – 3,30pm The Hall Brothers are Nick Hall (vocals, guitars), Duncan Hall (vocals, guitars) and John Carey (violin, melodeon, etc)

Over 30 teams for Great Milk (stout) Ride

As of 26th August 239 riders have registered, of which 39 are individual entrants. So far 33 teams have registered. The top ten shown below:

· Team Virr, Harrogate, Church Fenton, Bp Thornton, St Peter (Jersey) 25
· Practice-makes-Perfect, Pateley Bridge 19
· Dacre, Son & Hartley, Ilkley 14
· Carly’s Angels, Bradford, Bingley, Harrogate 13
· Crown at Middlesmoor, Upper Nidderdale 11
· Pateley Club, Pateley Bridge 8
· Team Simon, Settle, Bedale, Harrogate, Ripon, Glasshouses 11
· Erudine, Harrogate 10
· Ye Olde Oak Inn, Low laithe 7
· The Sunshine Boys, Otley 6

Help wanted Anyone who can spare some time to help out will be more than welcome; there are vacancies with marshalling, car parking, site erection (Saturday 5th September), catering, and registration. Please ring 01423-780389, or email bartoncliff@btopenworld.com

The things they’re doing for Macmillan

Sandra Bradley (seen here with husband Keith), of Dacre Banks, is organising a Dining-for-Macmillan event at Fewston Village Hall on Bank Holiday Monday 31st August. Between 10am and 4.30pm, she and her team of volunteers will be serving teas at this picturesque location overlooking the Washburn Valley, with all proceeds going via the Great Milk (stout) Ride, to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Two similar events in previous years raised £200 and £850 and Sandra is hopeful of continuing the trend again this year.

New medals and certificates for 2009

Brand new medals and certificates for 2009 sporting the Erudine logo are now ready to be loaded into individual plastic sleeves for presentation to each rider, along with a welcome bottle of water sponsored by Yorkshire Water, as they cross the finishing line at the Nidderdale Agricultural Society’s show field at Pateley Bridge on September 6th this year. Yorkshire Water is also providing the water at the two drinks stops situated round both the 20 mile Full Monty and the 10 mile Half Litre rides.

Late news between 1st and 5th August a further 32 riders have registered on line, bringing the running total to 143, including the Practice makes Perfect Team comprising doctors and staff from the Nidderdale medical centres in Pateley Bridge, Dacre Banks and Birstwith. So if you haven't done so yet "get it on" go to http://www.gmsr.co.uk/ and enter either yourself, or your team!

Pateley brothers to sponsor Stout Ride medals

Erudine, based at Central House, Beckwith Knowle, Harrogate, is a highly innovative software development company. Started in 2002 by Pateley Bridge born brothers Martin and Phil Rice, Erudine is set to revolutionise the IT industry with its radical new technology - Erudine’s Behaviour Engine, detailed at http://www.erudine.co.uk/

The company has been a sponsor of the Great Milk (stout) Ride for the last two years, as well as entering their own teams, (pictured after last year's ride). When a new sponsor for the medals and certificates was needed, Erudine agreed to fulfil that roll without hesitation. They have already registered a team of seven for this year’s ride and hope to win the new Patrick Bickers Memorial Corporate Trophy (see earlier blog) and are throwing down a challenge to other Harrogate corporate bodies to join them at the Nidderdale Agricultural Society’s Pateley Bridge show ground on 6th September and help the 17th Great milk (stout) Ride pass the £400,000 total, since its beginning in 1993.

Registrations up on last year

Registrations to the end of July are running at 25% up on last year, having passed the 104 mark. A spokesman tells us that August is the month when the surge usually comes and they are looking forward to maintaining the trend. Team entries are also up again at nineteen so far, with teams from Bingley, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield, Morley, South Elmsall, South Milford, Pontefract as well as locals from the Harrogate District. Old favourites Crown at Middlesmoor, Carly’s Angels, Team VIRR, Team Simon have been joined by Dacre Son & Hartley, Team Spong, Riverside Caravan Park and Ye Olde Oak and many more.

The landlords' ride is also being revived this year, where local mine-hosts will be set to cycle from one hostelry to another, and they have even been known to sample the waters, strictly in the line of duty of course!

Strawberry Teas support 2009 Ride

This year's event was again held at Marion Stockdale's home, The Paddock, Clapham Green, HighBirstwith, Harrogate, on Saturday 11th July, between 2 and 4pm. Beside strawberry teas, stalls of cakes, tombola, raffle, books, visitors were able to eat, drink tea and enjoy a chat, in either the garden, or the comfort of her home. The weather was kind this year enabling people to sit in the sun and admire Marion's yellow rose bed, with the paddock beyond. Marion tells us that she has been staging the Strawberry Fayre event for the last 25 years in support of Macmillan and has kindly donated her proceeds to the Great Milk (stout) Ride for the last six years.
Donations of prizes, cakes, read books were greatly appreciated to make (so far) this year's, £821.62, another great contribution to GMsR and Macmillan.Marion has asked us to express a big, big thank you to all the members of her team and her generous donors, without whom she couldn't keep producing these amazing results.

New Corporate Trophy for 2009

The Patrick Bickers Memorial Trophy for the top corporate fund raising team has now been kindly engraved by Martin Newton of Trophies & Engraving of Cold Bath Road, Harrogate, ready for presentation to the winning team later this year.

Patrick was one of the founding committee members of The Great Milk (stout) Ride, run in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Patrick, of Glasshouses, died from cancer, on Friday 3rd October 2008 in Harrogate District Hospital, surrounded by his family. A tireless worker for this annual Nidderdale event, Patrick devised and looked after the complex registration system and was instrumental in steering the process through to an automatic on-line procedure, when the new website was introduced in 2007.
The trophy (pictured) takes the form of a silver plated Celtic Quaich Bowl, mounted on a mahogany plinth around which are four panels, three for winners names. A Quaich (pronounced ‘kweix’), is a special kind of shallow two-handled drinking cup or bowl in Scotland deriving from the Gaelic cuach meaning cup. It was a family choice felt appropriate, because Patrick was very fond of Scotland and was a keen collector of Highland malt whiskies.
Spokesman for the Ride, Cliff Barton says that there has been an increase in teams entered by companies both from Harrogate and as far afield as Doncaster, Bingley, Huddersfield and beyond. The organising committee felt that it was time to provide a special trophy to be competed for exclusively by the corporate sector, at the same time they wanted to commemorate a long time friend and fellow committee member, who is sadly missed.
To register on line go to www.gmsr.co.uk where from teams and/or individual riders can register and download all the information they need to take part in the event, including sponsorship forms, route maps, information letter, posters and team sheets, car window stickers.

Fresh Radio promoting Great Milk (stout) Ride

An invitation to appear live on this morning's Breakfast Show and visit the brand new studios of Fresh Radio at The Watermill Site, Broughton Hall, on the A59 south of Skipton, was an opportunity to meet joint owner and Managing Director Julian Hotchkiss and old friend of GMsR Head of News, James Wilson.

The interview, which took the form of a three way conversation, went out live over two parts and discussed the origins of the Ride in 1993, when 29 riders raised £1350 and its steady rise in numbers and sponsorship donations to Macmillan, when last year 386 riders produced £40,000. The total so far handed to Macmillan is over £371,000 and this year should see us pass £400,000.

James Wilson, who was born and raised in Nidderdale, commented that he had interviewed 79 year old Sid Brayshaw, who will be riding in his 14th ride since 1995. Sid is seen in a previous blog finishing in 2005.

Fresh Radio, now a truly independent radio station owned jointly by Roger Tempest of Broughton Hall and Julian Hotchkiss, is moving with confidence into becoming a local broadcasting force to be reckoned with.

Pictured above are (l to r) James, Julian and Cliff Barton during the broadcast.

Strawberry Teas at Birstwith to support 2009 Ride

This year's event will be again held at Marion Stockdale's home, The Paddock, Clapham Green, High Birstwith, Harrogate, on Saturday 11th July, between 2 and 4pm. Beside strawberry teas, stalls of cakes, tombola, raffle, books, guess the weight of the cake and name the teddy, visitors will be able to eat, drink tea and enjoy a chat, in either the garden, or the comfort of her home. Marion tells us that she has been staging the Strawberry Fayre event for the last 24 years in support of Macmillan and has kindly donated her proceeds to the Great Milk (stout) Ride for the last five years.

Donations of prizes, cakes, read books were greatly appreciated to make last year's, at £827.27, another great contribution to GMsR and Macmillan.

Marion has asked us to express a big, big thank you to all the members of her team and her generous donors, without whom she couldn't keep producing these amazing results.

80 next and still pedalling for Macmillan

Sid Brayshaw will be eighty on 23rd December, but he will be joining the hundreds of younger riders to support the 17th annual Great Milk (stout) Ride on Sunday 6th September.

Sid and his wife Marie, who live near the Birchtree Inn, Wilsill, from where the event began in 1993, has taken part in every ride since 1995 are seen here proudly surveying every medal and certificate he has won since then.

Sid, seen finishing in 2005, will again be riding for Ye Olde Oak team in Low Laithe, where his son Geoff and partner Debbie Marshall, landlady are currently recruiting more members, with a view to challenging the team from The Crown Inn, Middlesmoor, who have won the Pub Team trophy for the last seven years.

The Great Milk (stout) Ride has an interesting and active website at http://www.gmsr.co.uk/ where teams and/or individual riders can register and download all the information they need to take part in the event, including posters team sheets and where to send donations