Jim Hancock, Dealer Manager at Briggs has completed the Big Battle Bike Ride across France and Belgium to raise funds for Help for Heroes. The 350 mile journey saw
lots of sun, rain, laughter and a bit of pain and suffering too!
Jim’s Itinerary Highlights
Day 1 from Compiegne to St Quentin taking in the Glade of Armistice
Day 2 St Quentin to Amiens with a service at Villers –Brentonneaux which was the 1st place tank action took place in April 1918
Day 3 Amiens to Arras with a service at Thiepval memorial this contains the names of 72,000 soldiers Lost on the Somme who have no known graves
Day 4 Arras to Lille where we had a service at Notre Dame Lorrette and Vimy Ridge which names 576,000 persons from 40 nations who died during the war
Day 5 Lille to Mons Belgium with a service at St Symphorien Cemetery which was the 1st joint British/German Cemetery
It was quite overwhelming the amount of sacrifice 9.7million military deaths
Jim comments:
“On my Journey I was very humbled by the mixture of veterans and fundraising riders like myself, I chatted away to veterans from the latest conflicts Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands war. It is quite unbelievable that veterans from the Falkland conflict are only now being treated especially for mental health issues and fully supported by Help for Heroes.”
“I would like to thank the people that have already contributed to my fundraising page and could I put out a big ask for those who haven’t to dig deep for a truly amazing charity who care for our true heroes. They are investing lots of cash into rolling recovery programmes, tools, support and training to help injured soldiers in transition to civvy st. I have attached some photos please read the 1st one as that was the reason that motivated me to do this challenge”
Jim’s Just Giving page is still open if you wish to donate and can be found here.
