Press Release - 25th July 2003
Go Grannies Go!!
Richard Gilmartin (front row, 2nd left, touching
sunglasses)
and the geared up grannies. Thirty Ena Sharples and Nora Batty look-alikes clambered onto bicycles and
wobbled 60 miles along North West roads, haranguing passers by, shedding rollers,
hairpins and hairnets and getting their wrinkled stockings caught in the bike
chains.
The grumpy grey-haired 'female' mafia were, of course, mainly young blokes.
And despite the sour expressions, the very non-pc jokes, the terrible wigs,
the rouge, the smeared lipstick and the ghastly junk shop clothes, this gathering
of harpies had a serious purpose.
They were taking part in the Manchester to Blackpool
Bike Ride to raise cash for The Christie - and they
estimate they'll generate about £4,000 for
the specialist cancer centre.
Sanctioned by Christie's, the enterprising group
have even set up their own fundraising - and semi-scurrilous -
website. If you want a laugh go to www.gogrannygo.co.uk Or
better still make a donation on line at www.justgiving.com/gogrannygo
The website was the brainchild of Richard Gilmartin and Richard Stevens, designers
for the Bentley company in CREWE. They live in MACCLESFIELD and, with about
ten friends - some from NANTWICH - liven up the local scene with occasional
weekend appearances in granny garb.
Richard Gilmartin, 30, did the bike ride two years ago and noticed that hardly
any of the 4,000 riders were in fancy dress. So last year he teamed up with
five friends and the grannies made their first bike ride appearance. From those
two rides Richard and friends raised about £2,000 for Christie's.
"I knew we could raise more cash if we stood out in some way," he says.
So striking were they this year that all 30 were given free rides on The Big
One, although all have donated the £7 ride fee to Christie's.
Richard (Gilmartin) has a particularly poignant reason for supporting the hospital.
His mother, Carol, died from bowel cancer in 1999. She was a teacher at Mesne
Lea School in SALFORD, where Richard was brought up.
Also, there was a big effort in memory of a friend, Lee Rourke, who died in
a car accident earlier this year. Lee, from Coventry, did last year's Manchester
to Blackpool Bike Ride with Richard and raised £300 for Christie's.
Christie fundraising officer Rachel Roberts was at Stanley Park in Blackpool
when the grizzled crew teetered in.
"As the day went on and there was no sign of the grannies, we thought they
might have stopped for a game of bingo. Then we heard bicycle bells jingling
and they crossed the finishing line, floral skirts flying, to rapturous applause!
They have kept the Fundraising Team very entertained with their hilarious website
and we were very impressed with all their hard work. They
definitely deserve to raise lots of cash," says Rachel.
Anyone who would like to join in their geriatric enterprises for Christie's
can do so by logging on to www.gogrannygo.co.uk
For more information please contact:
The Christie in Manchester is one of the leading cancer centres in Europe - registering around 12,500 new patients and treating about 40,000 patients every year.
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