Local Plymouth Mobility Retailer welcomes charity cyclists after 300 mile fundraising ride Monday 24th June, saw a team of 3 cyclists complete their gruelling 300 mile, 3 day bike ride in support of The Make Way Foundation and Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.
The ride started at The Shooting Star Hospice in Guildford on Saturday morning and ended at local mobility retailer Unique Mobility’s Plymouth Showroom in Estover, yesterday afternoon.
Matthew Bryant, Trustee and founder of the foundation, along with two friends Neil and David, completed the bike ride in memory of Matthew’s 9-year-old son Toby who sadly passed away on 26th May from complications due to his medical condition. Matthew’s wife and Toby’s mum Fleur, also a Make Way Foundation Trustee and Founder, was in the support vehicle and was there to greet the cyclists at the end of their ride along with Unique Mobility staff.
Vicky Blundell and Lee Johns from Unique Mobility joined forces with the cyclists for the last 10 miles, having met Matthew, Neil and David at The Hunting Lodge just outside Ivybridge and completed the last section of the route together.
The Make Way Foundation, founded in 2023, aims to fund wheelchairs for children who need them. Matthew and Fleur’s son Toby, required a wheelchair due to his medical condition and was quoted over a year’s wait to receive one on the NHS. The family were in a position to fund one privately but realised that many children are left without access to the equipment they need which is a huge barrier to being able to access school, social activities and sport that no-one should be excluded from. As a result, they set up the charity to provide funding for children to access wheelchairs when they otherwise wouldn’t be able to.
Unique Mobility have worked with the Make Way Foundation since they began last year and supplied the very first wheelchair funded by the charity. Dude, the recipient of that wheelchair, and Archie who received a wheelchair through the charity a few weeks ago, also joined the welcome party along with their families. It was fantastic to see the two boys along with their siblings playing together and racing Fleur who is also a wheelchair user.
Unique Mobility supply all types of mobility equipment from their three branches in Launceston, Exeter and the recently refurbished Plymouth Showroom, and cover the whole of the South West. In addition to walking aids, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and rise recline chairs and beds, the Unique Mobility team are able to assess for, prescribe, adapt and supply complex rehabilitation equipment including active wheelchairs and powerchairs along with specialist seating and special controls.
Unique Mobility feel privileged to have played a small part in supporting the charity with the bike ride and look forward to continuing to work with the charity in their efforts to fund wheelchairs for children. It is hugely important to both Matthew and Fleur to turn Toby’s legacy into a positive force for good in supporting other children and their families. Anyone who would like to support the fundraising can donate here:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/matthew-bryant?utm_term=mYg27BWP3
www.makewayfoundation.org
www.uniquemobility.co.uk
Facebook: @themakewayfoundation @uniquemobility
[Applause] W well we’re here because um cuz this is where we bought our first chair the charity is now getting very close to doing I think it’s 20th chair um and um we’ve got a decent pipeline behind that but we’ bought three from this shop now our son Toby who was really the inspiration behind the charity because as he got ill and needed a wheelchair we realized that you know there was a gap there that that could be filled and we could maybe help other children so we wanted to do this bike ride in memory of our son who died 4 weeks ago it’ actually been arranged before but we just wanted to keep going with this as a focus after he died because Toby got so much from his wheelchair in the time that he had it it allowed us to create memories in the short time that his life was going to end up being and those are just so precious now and I just want to make sure that all children have access to that because I just I know now what it what gives them one thing I would say is it’s absolutely great to to be here today and to see the children who we’ve bought wheelchairs for and um you know and see them enjoying those and see the freedom it gives to them we knew that you know full well from our own son how much of a difference it makes to to have a you know properly fitting chair that you can really kind of get around and have fun in and it is about Fun and Freedom it’s not about um you know uh confinement and challenge you know wheelchair is a you know if you need it then it creates your life and it makes everything fantastic for you