Sunderland pub charity pushes on to next Â£500,000 milestone

Cyclists from the Chesters' Charity who are to ride from Sunderland to York.

The Chesters’ Charity was set up 30 years ago by a group of people at the pub who wanted to help worthy causes.

Now, three decades later, the charity is still going strong and having passed the half million pound mark, it still has more to offer.

From left: Bert Cullen, Alan Smith, Ian Smith, Tony Kinnair, George, Laura Farley and Ashley Powell.

The group, which is run by Ian Smith, is about to embark on its latest venture of a bike ride from the pub to York.

A huge charity ball was held a few months ago to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the charity and raised an impressive £12,000.

As it always has done, the charity shared cash between a number of organisations where the money is used to help people in the community.

Ian, said the money raised from the ball was shared between Sunderland’s Larengectomy Group, Help for Heroes, Prostate UK and the Lung Foundation.

Members of The Chesters’ Charity, including Laura Farley, who organised the ball, met with representatives from the four charities, Bert Cullen, Tony Kinnair, George Goldsmith and Ashley Powell, to present them with cheques.

Ian said: “We raised £12,000 on the night which took the money raised by the Chesters’ to over half a million pounds, which is a great achievement by the pub.

“In the 30 years that I have run the charity I have met some really outstanding individuals and they have really impressed me how they have got over the problems that they have faced.”

He said he would like to thank everyone who supported the ball including all the people who donated auction prizes.

Now, the 23 cyclists and a five-man back up team, are gearing up to ride the 93 miles to York in one day on June 9.

Ian said, due to illness, the group has found themselves in desperate need of someone that can help with transport. They are looking for someone with a van to take the back-up crew to York and bring the cyclists and bikes back.

The charities which will most benefit from this fund-raising activity will be the Larengectomy Group and Sunningdale School.

Anyone who can help with the transport, or who would like to make a donation to the charity, can contact Ian on 07766 774145.