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.
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