15 pubs • 500km • 4 days
To continue our important fundraising efforts for The Giving Tree, this October our team are embarking on an epic pub-to-pub bike ride across East Anglia. In partnership with Nourishing Norfolk, the money raised will fund a new endeavour that will work at a grassroots level to ensure the communities in and around our pubs and restaurants will have access to affordable, healthy food.
THE ROUTE
The ride itself will commence from The Carpenters Arms on Tuesday 11th October and on average complete over 100km a day, visiting our pubs along the route. From the wetlands and fields in Cambridgeshire, to the rolling hills of Constable Country. Onto dusty roads by the Suffolk coast and pristine sands and estuaries in Norfolk, finally completing four days later, on Friday 14th October, at The Weeping Willow in the heart of Suffolk. It will be a test of endurance across the changing East Anglian landscape.
Our core team, including a couple of competitive head chefs, an ambitious assistant manager and an enthusiastic Australian operations manager from our pubs have committed to the gruelling 500km route and will be joined along the way by other keen team members, for shorter legs of the journey.
FUNDRAISING GOAL
Our aim, with the support of you and our sponsors, Birketts, Abbeygate Wealth Management and Adnams, is to raise £50,000 to help give local communities access to healthy, affordable food.
We are committed to playing a key role in supporting our local communities and The Giving Tree continues to gather momentum as a result of our team of enthusiastic people with a can-do attitude.
The cost of living crisis is seeing everyone struggle, with research showing that five million people are at risk of going without food due to the significant price rises in the last 12-months. Our business is about hospitality, we champion local food and we seek to sit at the heart of our communities - we hope this cycle safari around our pubs will help to raise funds and support people during this very challenging time.
You can kindly donate here.
WHERE YOUR MONEY IS GOING
We have partnered with Norfolk Community Foundation, a charity dedicated to building stronger communities and improving the lives of people in Norfolk. They support over 2000 small charitable groups and the money raised will assist in the expansion of their Nourishing Norfolk food hubs and importantly will give them the opportunity to introduce similar initiatives across other areas of East Anglia.
OVERWHELMING DEMAND
The mission is to give people a place to shop on a budget, which is needed now more than ever. Andrea, the hub manager on Holt Road in Norwich, says there has been an overwhelming demand for the service since it launched two and a half months ago. Over 1500 people have become members with an average of 500 people visiting the hub each week. This is ten times more demand than previous hub initiatives have seen.
More food hubs are ready to action in other areas, but they urgently need funding to become a reality. Your donations will support a Distribution Hub, where surplus and donated stock would be received before being distributed throughout the network of food hubs, employment and training opportunities for staff and groundwork to connect the project with other organisations to help its growth across other counties.
SUPPORT US
If you would like to follow the Cycle Safari training journey, follow us here where we post regular updates.
Or, you could even join our teams by partaking in a leg of the journey. Email ben@chestnutgroup.co.uk if you would like more details. Alternatively, cheering on the cyclists as they pass your local pub. This is the outline for the route they will be taking, but times are only estimated, so be sure to reserve a table on the day, so you can have some food while you wait for them.
START – 11th October
The Carpenters 8am, The Packhorse 9.10am, The Three Blackbirds 9.50am, The Rupert Brooke 11.35am, The Cricketers 1.25pm
12th October
The Cricketers 8am, The Eight Bells 8.45am, The Black Lion 11am, The Crown Stoke By Nayland 12.10pm, The Westleton Crown 4pm
13th October
The Westleton Crown 8am, The Ship 8.15am, The Feathers 1.45pm, The Maltings 3pm, The Globe 3.45pm
FINISH - 14th October
The Globe 8am, The Northgate 1.30pm, The Weeping Willow 2.20pm
You can kindly donate here Thank you for your support!