Press Coverage

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Stratford and Newham Express - 18 July

Charity cycle ride to honour a dear friend

TWO friends from Forest Gate have organised a charity cycle ride in memory of a campaigner.

Kevin Blowe and Cilius Victor will be cycling 58 miles from Bethnal Green to Southend-on-Sea.

They hope to raise £7,000 to help build a school in India in memory of their friend Gilly Mundy.

Gilly, who had worked at Newham Monitoring Project, died suddenly from a stroke in March, at the age of 36.

He had been a committee member and caseworker at the anti-racist group in Harold Road, Plaistow and later worked for the charity Inquest.

Kevin, of Rothsay Road, and Cilius, of Godwin Road, will set off with 15 other cyclists on Sunday, July 22.

They will be joined by Gilly's family and friends from Leamington Spa in Warwickshire.

Sponsorship money will go to the Buwan Kothi International Trust, of which Gilly Mundy was a trustee. It aims to raise £50,000 to build the Gilly Singh Mundy Memorial Institute in an isolated rural community in Haryana, northern India.

The building will include a school and a resource centre, encouraging farmers to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

Enough money has already been raised to start construction work later this year.

Kevin Blowe has also been involved with Newham Monitoring Project, for 16 years, and works for the charity Aston-Mansfield at Durning Hall Community Centre in Forest Gate.

He said: "Earlier this year, we planned to raise money for the Buwan Kothi International Trust by cycling to Southend and Gilly always intended to be one of those that took part.

"His sudden and tragic death, at such a young age, has given his friends a powerful incentive to raise funds to build a fitting tribute to his memory, one that reflects the person he was - a man who cared passionately about others.

"Land has already been purchased in Haryana and we hope that the foundations for the school and resource centre will be laid later this year.

"If we can raise enough money, children and their families in a very isolated rural community in India will finally have access to decent education by the start of the new academic year in September 2008.

Fundraising total to date

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Just to let you all know that as of this evening, we have raised an extraordinary

£16,091.74

That's just from the information that is available from those who have a Just Giving account - it doesn't include any 'offline' sponsorship that hasn't been added to people's totals.

And with the Gift Aid added, it means we have raised over twenty grand.

We made it!

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Congratulations to all the riders who managed fifty-eight often gruelling miles from London to Southend on the only sunny day in July - see the photos below for proof that we made it!


Click on the picture below to open the album.

Buwan Kothi Challenge

Article in Newham Recorder - 11th July

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Great to get some publicity -just a shame that the reporter managed to take Cilius Victor of Godwin Road in Forest Gate and create someone called 'Cilius Godwin'...

London Riders - Last Sunday before the Big Day

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A message from Cilius for those not too hungover tomorrow from the celebration tonight of Gilly's life:

We have been shockingly amiss by ignoring folk in North London, they are nice people up North not at all the savages I had been lead to believe. To make amends we are Northward (ish) bound this Sunday. I also remember that some of you want to check out some festival thingy in Victoria Park , so we will finish up in that park about 3.30/4pm ish so you can make arrangements to meet your mates there if you wish. I myself will be dashing off back to Forest Gate at the end.

As for this Sunday, meet at high noon outside South Africa House, Trafalgar Square.

So for some, this could be your last chance for a ride until we hit the London/Southend trail.

Cilius

Route Guide and Maps now available

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Cilius and I drove the route of the bike ride on Saturday and have compiled a Route Guide and a series of maps, which you can download from here:

Route Guide (202K)

Route Maps (2Mb)

There are also requests for help from anyone wanting to be part of the Support Team (436K)

If anyone has any queries, Kevin can be contacted on 07977 88 55 74

When will the rain ever end?

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Plans to head to Richmond were abandoned due to more rain - so we headed for Camden, and bumped into Amy Winehouse coming out of the Hawley Arms.

Which was nice...

Cycling for London BKIT riders - Sunday 1st July

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I hear last week was another washout. We'll return to the Abbey later.

We will gather a little later than usual. PAY ATTENTION.

Assemble at 2pm, that's TWO PM, (1400hrs) outside South Africa House, Trafalgar Square. We could cut South at any of the bridges, but the North bank ride along the river to Putney is so much nicer. We cross Putney Bridge and head towards Barnes (good jazz there at the Bull's Head), Roehampton and finally Richmond Park.

We'll come back through South London for a change of scene, Brixton (apologise now all who live in South London), Camberwell, cross the river at London Bridge perhaps, or Tower of London - all suggestions of course.

Forest Gate contingent: meet me at 1245hrs, Wandstead Park Station for a leisurely
ride up to Trafalgar Sq.

If you are unable to make it or think the weather is too horrible, please call Kevin on 07977 885574

Cilius

T: 020 8555 9643

Fundraising to date

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Not counting the 'offline' fundraising for the cycle ride, which I know is the preference for a number of the people taking part, as of today we have £3077 raised from the totals on the individual panels on the right-hand column of this website.

It's a fantasic achievement, but we need to raise more. Could everyone e-mail their friends again so we can get as much sponsorship over the next three weeks?

Kevin

Fundraising for BKIT at the Leamington Spa Peace Festival

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The Buwan Kothi International Trust's stall, including the bike that will be first prize in the balloon race.

Ready to launch the balloon race

Lift-off before the rain decends again

Leamington boys in training...

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Powered by Peter Scoot...

Discount on bike servicing

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If you are riding on 22 July and are planning on getting your bike checked over beforehand, then this is worth considering.

Ian at Cycle Asylum in Manor Park (www.cycleasylum.co.uk) has said that anyone taking part who comes in and books a service will get a discount. Just mention that you are part of the charity ride to build a school in India.

Cycle Asylum is only open on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday between 10am and 6.30pm.

Mile End to Erith - 3rd June

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George, Cilius, Jasbir and Kevin undertake the 34 miles from Mile End via Greenwich to Erith and back.

Ride to Portobello Road

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Cilius, George, Kevin and Manju ride out to Portobello Rd to visit the legendary Morroccan Cafe.

Ride to Picketts Lock

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Cilius, Rajiv, George and Raggi head up along the River Lea to Picketts Lock

Training this Sunday - 3rd June

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Meet up at high noon on Sunday, under the hanging bit of grass in the sky next to Mile End underground station. The skies are looking good and it's set to be reasonably warm. Bring your sun shades as there will be quite a bit of glare. Spread on some sun block too, you can never be too careful.

Cheers

Cilius

About the Buwan Kothi Challenge 2007

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On 22 July 2007, a number of us will be cycling 58 miles from Victoria Park in Bethnal Green in east London, to Priory Park in Southend-on-Sea, to raise money for the Buwan Kothi International Trust.

The Buwan Kothi International Trust was set up in 2006 to raise money for rural regeneration projects in Haryana in northern India. It was set up by Gilly and Debbie Mundy and inspired by the wonderful welcome given by the people of Buwan Kothi, a small and isolated farming community in Haryana, to everyone who attended Gilly and Debbie's wedding there in December 2005. It has eight Trustees based in London and Leamington Spa.

In the first two years, the aim was always to raise funds to build a primary school in Buwan Kothi, but this has been given an even greater significance by Gilly's sudden death in March 2007. The Trust now aims to name the school 'The Gilly Singh Mundy School and Resource Centre' and to raise £50,000 to build and equip it by the summer of 2008.