Amanda and Gary Pemberton, owners of Belvoir Warrington, have cycled 1,268 miles this summer in two charity events, raising over £7,500 for the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust (CAFT) in the process.

CAFT is based in Cheshire and provides a variety of free activity programmes for terminally ill, disabled and disadvantaged children from all over the northwest of England. 

“We have supported this fantastic local charity for many years, as a business and as individuals by donating, volunteering, fundraising and participating in CAFT events,” said Gary. “It’s a superb charity, and we love to visit and get involved as much as we can to try and help the wonderful people there to fund the wonderful activities that they provide. 

Gary added: “At the end of May Amanda and I, together with our friend Michele Jones and our support crew, travelled the entire length of the country to complete the Cycle LEJOG (Land Ends to John O’Groats).

“We pushed ourselves to the limit over 14 consecutive days, and it was an extremely tough challenge, involving over 942 miles of cycling and over 60,000 feet of climbing. 

“The thought of raising sponsorship money for CAFT kept us all going, and we were delighted to raise over £5,500, which will make a huge impact on the events that CAFT can organise.”

Then just two weeks later, Amanda and Gary completed CAFT’s Raid Alpine Italian Lakes challenge. 

“I did the first week of the challenge and Amanda did the second week so that we weren’t both away from the office,” Gary said. “It was a brilliant adventure, but again, very tough going over some incredibly hilly and mountainous terrain. We both cycled circa 325 miles and completed 16.673ft of climbing, and I used social media to update people about our travels.

“It’s been an incredibly tiring summer, and we are incredibly grateful to our fabulous team at Belvoir Warrington who have been super supportive. It is because of their efforts that we felt confident enough to do these charity events, and thanks to the power of technology, we were always able to take calls from clients when needed and continue getting instructed for lettings and sales.” 

As well as raising the funds for charity, Gary and Amanda have also donated 36 days of their time to the Belvoir Group’s 366 Days of Giving campaign. This initiative encourages franchisees from across the Belvoir Group network to log any time they have volunteered on charity and community challenges throughout the year. 

Charlotte Hurrell, Belvoir group services manager, said: “This is a truly excellent achievement by Gary and Amanda, and I am sure the money they have raised will make a huge difference to CAFT, the charity they are supporting. 

“Belvoir’s 366 Days of Giving initiative, which has been running throughout 2024, has demonstrated just how much time and effort our franchisees and their teams dedicate to their local communities, and to large and small charities across the country. We are very proud of everyone’s efforts, and confident of meeting our 366 Days of Giving target by the end of December.”