The Big Bike Ride was a big success!
This month, IRIS Removals were proud to support the Islip Big Bike Ride – and what a day it was! With over 200 riders raising over £10,000 for the Islip village church and school, our Big Bike Ride cyclists rode from the heart of London at Westminster Abbey all the way to Islip.
There were lots of smiles and happy, hard-working faces – our team included! – alongside the event volunteers, who all did an incredible job of running the sportive, and the riders had a great time by the looks of things too!
Below we’ve got some lovely comments and feedback from both riders and the main organisers involved:
Just wanted to say a big thank you to all the helpers today. I’ve honestly never been to a cycling event was so friendly and well organised with so many helpers out on the road and at the feed stops and at the end. Felt like you had the whole population of Islip out helping!
- Patrick Taylor, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
Huge thanks Sophie for yours and the efforts of all the organisers and marshals yesterday, it was great fun and hopefully a success!
- Nigel Turner, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
I just wanted to say what a brilliantly organised event the Big Bike Ride was! Marshals in just the right places, and helpful arrows everywhere, – it was amazing. It must have been a lot of work for quite a few people, and I’d like to really like to thank them somehow!
It’s the first long ride I’ve done, and at 68 I was a bit nervous – of getting lost, of not making it, etc – but the marshals’ smiling faces and waves of encouragement made all the difference. A brilliant day out!
- Vivienne Pearson, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
Just wanted to say a huge thanks to you and all the organisers.
It was a fantastic day, lovely route, everything worked really well and you even sorted the sun at the end!
- Gary Frank, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
This is just a quick note to say a huge thank you to you all for a fantastic event yesterday. You even managed to get the weather to play ball later in the day.
The whole thing was superbly organised, ad the sign-posting and marshalling excellent. And rarely have sausage sandwiches been so keenly desired. I’d be grateful if you could also pass on thanks to the marshals. Apart from the fact that their directions were extremely helpful, they also cheered us on, which was most uplifting.
- Peter Davis, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
Today’s event was excellent and thanks for that – I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I really appreciated the organisation which had evidently gone into it and seeing marshalls at every significant turn.
- David Patrick, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
The volunteers did a wonderful job of marshalling riders along the route and the numerous refreshment stops made for very welcome breaks.
- Philip Robertson, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
Well done and huge thanks for all the organisation and team work that went on for yesterday’s event. I know what a massive logistical nightmare it can be trying to organise something like that and I can assure you that from my perspective it went off without a hitch. Everyone was in the right place at the right time and it all ran extremely smoothly, which is more than can be said for my rattling old bike!
I had a great time, thanks very much.
- Martin Pearce, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
A lovely day! Better organisation than some of the big events
companies, friendly faces all along the route and a welcoming
finish… a very impressive advert for the village and the community.
Thanks to everyone involved!
- Ben Thomas, Big Bike Ride Cyclist
I think the day was a fantastic example of what a community, supported by local businesses, can achieve. We are immensely grateful to IRIS for transporting all the precious bikes to London. It all went so smoothly and it was a huge weight from our shoulders to know that this part if the day was being so well taken care of.
- Fiona, Big Bike Ride Organiser
It was a really enjoyable event which generated lots of funds for many good causes but, as importantly lots of goodwill within the community with so many from the village being involved. We really appreciated the helpfulness and care of the IRIS Removals team and, for my part, particularly on the morning of the ride – their care of the bikes freed up some of our volunteers to help smooth out and speed up the registration process – many thanks to them.
- Lucy Thirtle, Reverend & Associate Priest of the Ray Valley Benefice (Islip, Noke & Woodeaton)
Excellent, first class work over the weekend. Massive thank you to you and your team. I was really impressed, and so were all the riders who trusted you with their bikes. It all worked a dream, both in Islip, and at Westminster.
Now I know exactly who to call next time I need to move 100 bikes overnight ?
- Dan Levy, Big Bike Ride Organiser
Johanna Stephenson, the co-founder of The Big Bike Ride also thanked us for our help on the day and gave a little bit more context to the ride:
‘The reason for the route, is that we decided to re-trace the steps of Edward the Confessor, who was born in Islip in 1005 and built the original Westminster Abbey – and then gave Islip to the Abbey, so we’ve always had a strong connection. The Abbey have been wonderfully supportive of the ride, and each year one of the Canons stands in front of the riders to give them a blessing before they set off.’
We hope to be able to help again next year, and we wish all the cyclists the very best in their next rides! Congratulations to everyone involved for the incredible amount raised for the Islip church and school!
If you have any bikes (or more likely, home furniture) that you would like us to move, please visit our removals page for moe information, or get in touch with us today!
