Pedal power raises thousands for lifesaving charity

Pedal power has driven forward the launch of additional lifesaving resources within the Midlands after Solihull Chamber of Commerce hosted a 24 hour cycle event at Touchwood Solihull in aid of local charity Arrive Alive.

Le Tour in 24 was held on Friday 4 February 2022 until Saturday 5 February 2022 with the aim of cycling the distance of the Tour de France in just 24 hours. The distance target was 3,365.8km on six static bikes, the final distance was a monumental 3,750km.

The event was divided into 144 one hour slots which enabled a number of local businesses and individuals to get involved in making a difference to the local community by cycling to help save lives.

Arrive Alive is Solihull Chamber of Commerce charity of the year, they are a small but mighty local charity. The charity was founded by a local mother Debbie Roscoe who 's daughter Ellie was critically ill. Following the launch of the charity it has funded a number of lifesaving voluntary operated vehicles to assist West Midlands Ambulance Service, each of the vehicles is dispatched following a 999 call and is operated by medically trained volunteers known as CFR 's within the community. There are an additional eight lifesaving vehicles urgently needed during 2022.

Andy Jeynes, Community Response manager for West Midlands Ambulance Service UNHSFT, said: "Arrive Alive has already supplied lifesaving equipment in addition to a number vehicles for Community Responder Schemes. These Volunteer Community First Responders are recruited and trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service, attending the same National Training Academy in Dudley as our full time staff. They are trained to deal with medical and traumatic emergencies and use the same communication equipment as our Emergency Ambulances to respond to 999 calls within the community. Our Responder schemes are totally self-funded and Arrive Alive support our schemes by suppling equipment and vehicles across the region. Potentially every vehicle that becomes operational is possibly another life saved. There are still a large number of groups who still require resources which I hope Arrive Alive will be able to continue to fund in the future. ”

Le Tour in 24 has been a great success, raising over £8,000 thanks to the collaboration of public donations, sponsors of the event and sponsorship of the individuals who took part in the event.

Debbie Roscoe from Arrive Alive said: “Personally I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who gave up their time to support Le Tour in 24 also I would like to pass on my thanks from the Arrive Alive team to the committee for their support. Sam Frampton from Solihull Chamber has been the superwoman of the event and stayed at Touchwood for the entire 24 hours, I can 't thank her enough for her relentless support and championing Arrive Alive. I am looking forward to seeing the funds raised from the event being used for lifesaving resources on the roads as none of us know when we might need to make a 999 call for help. ”

Samantha Frampton, head of Solihull Chamber, said: "A huge thank you to our fantastic Solihull businesses who took part, the sponsors and all who donated. To raise over £8,000 is phenomenal and couldn't have been achieved without the efforts of all those involved."

The businesses that took part in LeTourin24 include:

Solihull Chamber

GBCC

Touchwood

Prime Accountants

Plum Personnel

Leap IT

Run Your Fleet

Specsavers Solihull

Arrive Alive

Pink Spaghetti

Sydney Mitchell

On your Radio Solihull

Education Awards

Solihull Moors Foundation

Schofield & Associates

Crowne Plaza Solihull

Creative Media

Transport & Construction Solutions

The Wilkes Partnership

Wadworths Solicitors

Wildings Solicitors