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