SQ2SQ Team exceed their target of raising £40,000 for the diagnosis, treatment and care of Isle of Wight cancer and leukemia patients  

image: Square to Square 2008 logo

SQ2SQ Team exceed their target of raising £40,000 for the diagnosis, treatment and care of Isle of Wight cancer and leukemia patient after eight months of fundraising

Following the kind donation of £1,000 from Shanklin Fire Station Social and Sports Club, along with the recent auction of eBay for two Bestival tickets raising £468, the SQ2SQ Team 2008 are pleased to announce that the target of £40,000 has been exceeded.

This is fantastic news and a reflection of the response from the public and businesses to the appeal, along with the hard work and time devoted to the challenge appeal since the appeal was launched in August 2007.

Back in May 2008 the SQ2SQ 2008 Team were pleased to announce that they had exceeded their original target of £25,000 and then raised their target to £40,000.

"We have been overwhelmed by the amount of public support and enthusiasm for this event, said Andrew Cooper, co-organiser of SQ2SQ 2008. Not only people keen to support an event that will provide equipment to be used locally in the fight against cancer, they are also interested in the unusual nature or the ride.

However, our fundraising efforts do not stop on reaching our second target and we are now raising our target once more to £60,000."

Although primarily aimed at raising money, the ride is also keen to raise issues such as the benefits of keeping fit. As part of that, the Team have attended over 30 school assemblies promoting the challenge and British Cycling's Go-Ride cycling development programme and explaining to pupils how they can get involved and complete their own mini Square to Square."

The SQ2SQ Charity Cycle Challenge Appeal 2008 total now stands at £40,063 (as at 9 July 2008). A big thank you to all who have kindly donated to the appeal to date.

The money has been donated by many individuals, business and groups, along with the SQ2SQ Team 2008 fundraising with various events including charity car washes, collections at local stores and other promotional events.

The SQ2SQ Team are to continue their fundraising efforts and the target has now been raised to £60,000.

The SQ2SQ 2008 Team will be at Sainsburys, Newport from 9am on Saturday 12th July fundraising by bag packing for customers in return for donations.

The SQ2SQ Team 2008 have recently completed their visit to Isle of Wight schools as part of their promotion for the SQ2SQ Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 and the roll out of British Cycling's Go-Ride scheme for all Isle of Wight pupils.

The SQ2SQ Charity Cycle Challenge 2008 will see a team of Isle of Wight firefigthers cycling 1,400 miles each from St Thomas' Square, Newport, Isle of Wight to St Peter's Square, Vatican, Italy in September 2008.

The Team start their challenge on Saturday 30th August 2008.