We (and I include myself in this camp!) are seeing families signing up to take part in this year’s event and setting out their route to take in just a few churches within the community. It’s about getting the whole family involved and the fun is working out a route that suits everyone!

Other participants are getting more competitive though and are busy setting out either record number of church visits or setting a fitness challenge goal of doing a certain amount of churches in the shortest time possible!

I was inspired to hear Gill Hulme’s story of her Bike ‘n’ Hike challenge last year where she and a friend cycled to an amazing 53 churches! This year she has a different approach and she’s doing the challenge with her 7 year old grandson so I think she’s limiting the number to around 12 churches.

What I really like about this event is that you can tailor the challenge to suit you. It really is just a case of taking part and making it fun!

Please let me know what your goals are for this. Is it a fitness thing or a team thing for you?

Next on my list this week is to finally determine the cycle route for our family! And oh, I must start promoting my Just Giving page too….

So don’t forget, you can get involved in one of two ways.

1)      Take part yourself – just email me and I’ll give you all the details

2)      If you can’t take part yourself then please sponsor me or someone who is! Again, you can either email me for more details or go to my Just Giving page.

Reminder – the event takes place on Saturday 10^th September and you can set off and either cycle or walk to any of the churches between 10am and 4pm.

For those of you who know me you will appreciate I don’t have lots of spare time on my hands. Running Modern Day Marketing, maintaining other business interests and being a Mum to Georgie and Heidi, as well as being wife and housekeeper etc!

So when the opportunity came along to become the Rickmansworth Area Organiser for Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust, you may be thinking what on earth has she done!

Well I did take time out before committing to the role and with all things considered, these are the reasons why I decided to take on the role:

• I love historic churches. We are so lucky to have such an abundance of beautiful churches in this country and in this economic climate I think it’s important we don’t forget the plight of keeping these wonderful buildings in tip top shape

• Regardless of whether you are a regular church goer, to me, churches remain the heart of many a community. Whenever I pass a church I’m reminded of weddings and baptisms which bring back so many fond memories. Parties, clubs, workshops or courses and of course the good old toddler groups! So many of these are hosted in church buildings and these again have contributed hugely to many lives, including my own. I often remember the magical time I ran Baby Massage Courses at my local church, St Mary’s. It was such a lovely time in my life.

• This is project based so it has an end date of 10th September 2011which means I can manage my time effectively. So that’s me being practical!

• Finally, I wanted to give something back. I’ve not had the time to do much charity work in recent years and I have felt something missing in my life so it’s definitely time to fill that hole and get involved doing something that makes a difference to our community.

Religious beliefs or not, these phenomenal buildings need our support to be maintained and the Trust gives grants to churches to do this.

So I’m looking for your support in one of 2 ways:

1. Participate in the Rickmansworth area of Bike ‘n Hike on Saturday 10th of September – just email / call / speak to me to find out more!
2. Sponsor me! The Heasman family (yes, even my 5 year old Pint Sized Nemesis, Heidi) will be taking part! So you can sponsor us as a family, along with me for organising the event for the Rickmansworth area

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

It’s the Trust’s 20^th year and I’ve made it a personal goal to double the number of participants taking part in the Bike ‘n Hike for Rickmansworth on Saturday 10^th September so we therefore double the amount raised.

My goal is to get 24 registered to bike or hike on the day from the Rickmansworth community and between us raise £2500.

Please support me!