The LeicesterShire Historic Churches Trust is delighted to announce that 2025 Ride+Stride raised £40,461.67. This is a wonderful tribute to everyone who opened their church or chapel on the day (317 in all!), and to all riders and striders and welcomers and their sponsors.
We congratulate and give thanks for Sean Dudley who co-ordinates the event with such commitment and enthusiasm, and Ron Cook who looks after the money so efficiently, ensuring that churches promptly receive their share of the funds raised. Ron also claims the Gift Aid from HMRC. We also had good results using the UK-based GoodHub fundraising platform, in place of JustGiving.
Generous sponsorship from Andrew Granger & Co ensured that the R+S expenses remain @ £1,000. Thus, the Trust has benefited from £23,500, all of which will be used for grants in 2026, and the half share paid to 138 churches totalled £15,900. Some churches had just one person raising funds, while others had many more, so we estimate that around 250 people sought sponsorship as a rider/strider/welcomer.
This successful result will also be very helpful when we approach other grant-giving trusts for funds to support our grant-giving. Events like Ride+Stride prove capacity in raising our own funds – always a good message to convince other trusts to give their support to the LHCT grants programme!
2026 Ride+Stride will be on Saturday 12 September, and once again will be co-ordinated by Sean with Ron as Treasurer. Please open your church or chapel for this annual Church Open Day so that people throughout Leicester and Leicestershire can raise funds for your church/chapel and for the Trust’s grants programme. Thank you for your support!
Janet Arthur MBE, Chair, Leicestershire Historic Churches Trust. Contact chairman@lhct.org.uk / 07840 53288