UPDATED ON 16th SEPTEMBER, 2024
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On Saturday 14th myself, Richard Gibbons and Richard Featherstone set off from Snape church on the annual Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Ride & Stride event. We were started off on our ride by Brian Boulton, our Churchwarden. The weather was fine and ideal for a day in the saddle.
We visited 21 churches in total, the outward journey being to the east side of the A12 reaching Woodbridge, and commencing the return journey on the west side of the A12, crossing the road again at Pettistree, finishing with Campsea Ashe and Blaxhall churches and returning to Snape. We had cycled 43.6 miles in 5 hours 9 minutes, and had gained some 1500 feet of ascent in Suffolk on the ride! During the ride our cycles came to a stop at midday, just adjacent to a welcoming pub in Ufford, long enough for us to enjoy a pint and some food.
I would like to thank everyone who supported us, and the generosity of those who sponsored me to participate in the charity event this year. Riding through the lovely Suffolk countryside, seeing some wonderful church architecture, and meeting some lovely people is a pleasure. May I also thank all the volunteers who give their time to record those visiting the local churches, and provide a friendly welcome?
I have begun collecting sponsorship donations, and currently the total raised is £885. My contact details are shown in the blog below. Thank you all again.
John Swann
UPDATED ON 7th AUGUST, 2024
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Suffolk Historic Churches Trust
Annual sponsored Ride and Stride 2024
The Tour De France has finished, the 2024 Olympics are nearing the closing ceremony, and our Churchwarden, Brian Boulton has recently handed me the paperwork for the 2024 Suffolk Historic Churches Trust, Ride and Stride (https://shct.org.uk/ride-and-stride/), which is on 14th September.
For the seventh year, I have agreed to participate on behalf of our local church, St John the Baptist, Snape, which will benefit from a percentage of the sponsorship monies raised. This will help to provide monies for ongoing maintenance and improvement works to our much-loved church. If by riding a few miles, visiting several churches, and enjoying a pub lunch to refresh with my fellow cyclist and neighbour Richard to raise monies for this year’s Ride and Stride, I am happy to do so.
In the next week I will begin cycling to prepare for this year’s Ride and Stride. Should anyone wish to generously provide sponsorship support and donate monies for this event can I request that you please contact myself, or Brian. Our details are below:
John Swann - jswann06@btinternet.com - ☏ 01728 687 423
Brian Boulton - brian.boulton@btinternet.com - ☏ 01728 688 999
Thanking you in advance for your continuing support and generosity.
John Swann
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just email the Webmaster with your details.
UPDATED ON 1st NOVEMBER, 2023: SNAPE RESULTS for RIDE & STRIDE
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I have much pleasure in reporting our two teams of riders, Greg & Virginia Spray, and John Swann and Richard Gibbons, raised the magnificent sum of £1,630. We are most grateful for all the effort our riders put in, not only cycling but also collecting from the generous people of Snape and surrounding communities, who we wish to thank for their continued support. In addition, we wish to express our appreciation to those on the team who received and offered refreshment to Ride & Stride visitors to our church throughout the day. Visitors commented upon how grateful they were to receive a warm personal welcome.
To all who were involved in the day, and those who supported the event so generously, may I say how much we at St John the Baptist Church and Suffolk Historic Churches Trust appreciate this ongoing support and generosity. Thank you all very much.
As you probably know, the total raised is shared equally between the Trust and Snape Church. The Trust income is used to support and maintain church buildings across Suffolk. The Trust granted Snape £5,000 towards the construction of our toilet block, a project that is hopefully ending soon, but still ongoing.
Brian Boulton,
Church Warden
The article above appeared in November's "Ebb and Flow".
UPDATED ON MONDAY, 9th OCTOBER 2023
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I have a final update for this years Suffolk Historic Churches Trust - Ride and Stride 2023. With the support and generosity of people, I have handed to Brian Boulton the sum of £895.00. Monies have also been raised by Greg and Virginia Spray, who cycled for the event and additional monies received personally by Brian from supporters of Snape church. This will all be forwarded to SHCT and eventually half, and with Gift Aid will be returned to the benefit of St John the Baptist church, Snape. Thank you again to everyone for sponsorship and those individuals who assisted by sitting at the churches to welcome participants.
Thank you again,
John Swann
UPDATED ON SUNDAY, 17th SEPTEMBER 2023
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I would like to thank everyone who sponsored me for the recent Suffolk Historic Churches Trust - Ride & Stride 2023 event. Your generosity supported me on the 34-mile cycle-ride, visiting 20 local Churches on what was a very warm day! I would also like to thank my neighbour Richard, who rode alongside me. Sponsorship monies are currently in excess of £700.00, which is a wonderful amount for the Charity — and half of this sum will eventually be handed over for the benefit of the village's St John the Baptist Church.
Thank you,
John Swann
UPDATED ON MONDAY, 7th AUGUST 2023
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September 2023 is fast approaching, and upon that note I recently received from our hard-working Churchwarden, Brian Boulton, the paperwork for this year's Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Ride and Stride 2023. For the sixth year, I have agreed to ride and support the Charitable Trust and, in doing so, our local church, St John the Baptist Snape, raising funds for both, to assist with maintenance and improvement work.
Brian has been tirelessly working over the last few years to improve facilities for people attending or visiting St John the Baptist. If by riding a few miles, visiting several churches, and enjoying a pub lunch to refresh in order to raise monies for supporting this year's Ride and Stride, I am happy to do so. Just hope that by September, I have reacquainted myself with my cycle and that the weather has improved. Thanking everyone for their continuing support.
Should anyone wish to generously contribute sponsorship monies to the Ride and Stride 2023, can I please request that you contact Brian or me, as below.
John Swann |
e: jswann06@btinternet.com |
t: 01728 687 423 |
Brian Boulton |
e: brian.boulton@btinternet.com |
t: 01728 688 999 |
POSTED ON 1st OCTOBER 2022
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This year Snape was supported by four cyclists [in the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust Ride & Stride event] — John Swann and neighbour Richard Gibbons, and Greg & Virginia Spray.
John and Richard travelled 38 miles in visiting 20 churches, and ventured as far as Framlingham, where they enjoyed a pint over lunch. John and Richard were well supported in that they have contributed £600 to the SHCT charity. Both are seen [below left] at the end of their day, when they visited Snape Church and met with Brian Boulton.
Greg and Victoria obtained sponsorship totalling £520. They are photographed [above right] during their cycle ride, at St Andrews Church, Little Glemham.
In addition to the sponsorship raised by the cyclists, donations of over £220 have been received, making a total contribution of £1,340 to The Historic Churches Cycle Ride, half of which will be returned to Snape PCC.
On behalf of Snape Parochial Church Council, I wish to express our most grateful appreciation to John, Richard, Greg and Victoria for all their effort in raising sponsorship and then completing the cycle ride. We also wish to thank all those who so generously supported the event by sponsorship and donations to make this such a successful day.
As usual, our volunteers hosted visiting cyclists at Snape Church between 9am to 5pm. This year, we welcomed 23 cyclists, making it the highest number for several years. We appreciate this essential support to our visitors.
Brian Boulton, Churchwarden
St John the Baptist Church, Snape
The article above appeared in October's "Ebb and Flow".
You can also read about John's and others' previous rides.