This year’s Ride and Stride event will take place on Saturday 14th September 2024.
This is the day that churches throw open their doors for people to visit – either walking, cycling, or by any other inventive means. To help you take part you can print off the sponsor form below. There is also a visitable churches leaflet which can be downloaded to help you plan your route, please be aware that some churches may find it difficult to find people to man them, so they may not be open all day. Also, in some Deaneries we may not have fully up to date with the data so if access/toilet facilities are critical for your visit please can you try to check direct with the church in question first.
We look forward to a peaceful day enjoying our beautiful churches, stunning countryside and fresh air and wish all our riders and walkers a lovely and safe day.
Please download the pdf s below for more information.
DEANERY ORGANISERS
The event takes lots of effort to organise and crucial to this are the Deanery Organisers who are the links between the participants and the County Organiser. We do however have some areas where we are still looking for Deanery Organisers – Aveland and Ness, Axholme, Calcewaithe & Candleshoe (Skegness area), Christianity (Lincoln), Graffoe (South of Lincoln), Grantham, Lawres and Manlake (Scunthorpe).
Anyone can fulfil this role – enthusiasm is all that is needed.
With over 700 churches, the event would be impossible to run without the help of these volunteer Deanery Organisers. More information on the role can be obtained from Graham Cook (Hon Secretary) and we have set out a brief description of the role at the bottom of this page.
If you would just like to take part in the event and join the many people who have great fun, cycling, walking or riding between our beautiful churches then please contact us by the methods shown above.
Below is a description of what the role of Deanery Organiser entails – it is not particularly onerous! If you think you would like to help out in one of the areas then please contact Sarah.
DEANERY ORGANISER’S ROLE DESCRIPTION
- Contact all churches in your Deanery. The best contact is usually a church Warden but could also be PCC Secretary or the Vicar. With luck you may have been given a list of contact details from your predecessor. Useful details include name, address, phone number and email. Check if they wish to be included in the list of open churches for the day.
- Paperwork will be delivered to you, as the Deanery Organiser, in early May, for onward delivery to the churches in your area – this will provide all you need with regard to advertising etc.
- Some months prior to the Ride and Stride in September, send out all the posters, leaflets, sponsor forms etc to all Parish Organisers in your deanery. A covering letter, reminding the organiser to leave the church unlocked and provide refreshments if possible, is recommended. Also encourage them to advertise the event in the Parish Magazine, local paper, local school etc.
- Some Deanery Organisers deliver the leaflets by hand, but this can take a long time and can be expensive on petrol. Royal mail is sometimes the cheaper option, particularly if time is an issue, or the paperwork can be distributed by hand at Deanery Synods perhaps.
- Some weeks prior to the big day it can be useful to phone or email your contacts to remind them of the event, to make sure that posters have gone up, and offer any advice or help required. Also to point out that the forms and cheques should be returned to the Deanery Organiser as soon as possible after the event.
- As the cheques arrive it is helpful to keep a list (or photocopy) of money and forms received. Once it has all arrived, fill out the form and send, with cheques, to Graham Cook – before the end of October is preferred.
- It is always encouraging to send letters of thanks, with a total amount received, to all Parish Organisers.
- A yearly meeting of Deanery Organisers is arranged in February/March – which enables ideas to be exchanged and organisers to meet one another.
ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE WITH THIS IMPORTANT WORK WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY THE TRUSTEES
