Rustington charity cyclists saddle up for 4,000 mile Kenya ride

But backers of the Friends of Mombasa Children group won't need passports and ferry tickets '” they aim to cover the mileage on exercise bikes in a church hall at Rustington.

The charity, based in Rustington, hopes to raise money to build a new school in the Mombasa area of Kenya and has just purchased a large site for the project.

The sponsored ride takes place on the weekend, Friday to Sunday, September 4-6, at Rustington Methodist Church Hall, Claigmar Road.

Sponsors, riders, needed

Charity trustee Chris Azzaro said: "We hope local people will come and support the charity as we endeavour to cycle all the way to Kenya! We are looking for teams and individuals to come along and take part, as well as people to sponsor those cycling. There will also be a table sale to help raise funds for the project."

Originally launched in 2003 as the Friends of Mwokoeni Children, the charity regularly takes out groups of local young people to Mombasa to support its work at various schools in the area.

Rapid growth

Since then it has grown rapidly and now also supports 19 young people in further education, as well as children in Mombasa. Building the school will take the work of the "Friends" onto a new level.

Charity chairman Carol Groves said: "We are delighted how quickly the charity has grown in recent years. We now support children at multiple schools and as such have changed our charity's name to 'Friends of Mombasa Children'."

"We now need to raise funds to pay for our building project and we hope people will join us in our efforts by cycling to Kenya."

For information about supporting the event, visit the website www.mombasachildren.org.uk

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