My good friend Christine Mason Berger is in the process of establishing a Chickenshed Theatre Group in South West London. Chickenshed is a charitable organisation and provides an exciting, innovative and inclusive Theatre Company for the participation of children and young people regardless of health, social development or ethnic diversity.They are a wonderful organisation and through them a very large number of young people have gained a sense of self-worth and purpose.

For the South West London Chickenshed to happen Christine needs to raise £15,000 to cover the initial development stage.

As a way of raising funds towards her target I have been invited to take part in a sponsored bicycle ride between London and Paris. As you may have already worked out, I would like to invite you to help fund a really worthwhile project, and at same time enable an old geezer to prove there’s life in the old dog yet.

This is a great cause and I really would be grateful for any donation, no matter how small (or large). For my part, I am taking the challenge of cycling four consectutive days, covering 75 miles/125kms per day, very seriously. I have started my training programme and am feeling very saddle sore already.

So, I’m doing my bit. Visiting our justgiving page will give you the opportunity to do yours. Alternatively, speak to one of the guys in the shop about other ways to contribute.

The ride takes place in the first week of July, but it would be really good to see our sponsorship pot starting to fill sooner, as Christine has already laid out a substansial deposit to secure places for the four members of Team Chickenshed on the cycle ride.

About Chickenshed

‘Chickenshed is a theatre company. We work using an inclusive creative process which means everyone is welcome, and everyone is valued. Not many places are for everyone and anyone – so a lot of people who find themselves unwelcome elsewhere in the world, come to us. Chickenshed runs Children’s and Youth Theatre workshops for 600 people, education courses for over 100 students, community outreach projects and a network of satellite ‘Sheds’ across the country (and one in Russia) so even more can benefit. Every extraordinary piece of theatre created at Chickenshed shouts out the same thing: anyone can thrive in an environment where everyone is welcome’.

The bike ride itself is organised by Skyline for Charity.

Please contact me on 020 7371 21 21 if you need any more information, and thank you for reading.

Paul