Monday 14th November saw the conclusion of the Masonic ‘Way of the Roses’ cycle challenge with a presentation evening at Middlesbrough Masonic Hall.

Among those in attendance, swelling the numbers to over 100 were the Provincial Grand Master, RW Bro Dr David Chambers and his wife Maureen along with the Mayor of Middlesbrough Andy Preston.

Those in attendance were treat to the local Teesside delicacy of the famous Chicken Parmo before watching a movie presentation of the cycle challenge that took place in early September.

The 50 strong team made up of 41 riders and 9 support were then presented with a engraved tumbler along with a peg of the highlights.

After some individual awards to riders who had gone above and beyond with sponsorship efforts, the final amount of £35,059.13 was revealed to rapturous applause, the charity reps from Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and Prostate Cancer UK each receiving over £17,500, all looking delighted with the outcome as they were presented with the cheques by the Provincial Grand Master.

The evening of giving did not finish there however as one of the riders (who wishes to remain anonymous) donated a further £3000 to the Prostate Cancer Unit at the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, raising the final amount to over £38,000. Well done that particular team member indeed.

A special thank you must go to the team at the FCYNER who worked tirelessly with us to make sure the gift aid was collated and distributed evenly, the guys really pulled it out of the bag for us and it was most appreciated.

The evening wound down with a final photo of the team who to be fair looked like they had ‘put on a few pounds’ collectively since September.

On a final note, Steve Cross of Acklam lodge, who was one of the riders managed to harass a local lad from Ripon enough into donating a a huge lump of an old Oak tree for his hobby of machining the wood into bowls and suchlike, Steve donated a further £200 from the sale of these on the evening to the JCUH, well done Steve.

An emotional end to what had been a difficult but very rewarding 172 cycle ride across the breadth of the country, on behalf of the team, thank you to those who assisted along the way, you certainly made it easier for us.