Each year the church which has increased the amount of money raised during the Bike Ride by the most on previous years is awarded £1,000 by Norfolk Churches Trust. We are delighted to announce that Thurning, St Andrew are the recipients of this prize for 2025.
Hilary, who took part in the Bike Ride, Walk & Drive for the first time in 2025, has given us her reasons for taking part and why she chose Thurning church to benefit from her efforts.
“Excuse me but whose bike are you riding?” This was addressed to my husband with suspicion, not curiosity, outside Thurning church. You see, the bike had belonged to Reverend Easton, the deceased, former vicar of Thurning and the person who asked us had recognised the bike. Reverend Easton had left the bike to my dad who had lent it to my husband, and we had stopped to visit Thurning church.
Growing up in Reepham, I had always known the magnificent Salle church and Thurning is such a contrast in scale. It is very intimate and has amazing Victorian box pews labelled for each of the farms and big houses, so it is historically significant. That is why I decided to split my fundraising on the church bike ride with Thurning church, but I didn’t ride Reverend Easton’s bike!
When I moved back to Norfolk three years ago, I was awed anew by the medieval flint churches that dominate our wide-open landscape and define every village. I really love them. So, I kept asking friends, “who is doing for churches what the National Trust does for stately homes?” Then a year ago I came across the Norfolk Churches Trust and heard about the Bike Ride, Walk & Drive. I signed up straight away and then the cogs turned in my head. Of course, that is fundraising bike ride my dad did for decades!
He was even featured in the EDP in 2005 at the age of ninety preparing for his penultimate ride. My father was a medical missionary in Nigeria for twenty years before settling down as the GP in Reepham. He was a passionate cyclist all his life (we think he was born on a bike), and he made us all enthusiasts – all except our mother. He and my mother were strong members of the church community, and he was a lay reader. He rode to support churches as well as to prove just how far he could ride. He was very competitive and claimed to have visited thirty-five churches on one ride, but we all know he was rather prone to exaggeration!
My three siblings had each ridden with him at least once on the annual bikeathon, struggling to keep up with his pace. I lived abroad and was never in Norfolk in September but now I can ride with him in spirit. Last year I covered twenty-two miles (not up to my dad’s standards), but I will try to ride further, visit more churches and chapels, and raise more money next time!
Thank you to Hilary for sharing her story with us and her lovely connections to the event.
If you have a story that you would like to share with us on your reason for taking part in the Bike Ride, Walk & Drive, we would love to hear it, please email media@norfolkchurchestrust.org.uk.
The 2026 Bike Ride, Walk & Drive takes place six months today on Saturday 12th September. We will shortly be launching the event including registration and sponsorship forms, details of our competitions and an exciting new element for the first time this year.
