A 10-year-old boy is taking on his ‘longest ever’ bike ride this weekend to raise money for refugees and asylum seekers in the district

Freddie, from Skipton, will be spending his tenth birthday cycling 127 miles down the Leeds to Liverpool canal this weekend to raise funds for The Bradford city of sanctuary and Bradford African Community.

He says he wanted to set himself a challenge and take himself on a testing journey like many refugees, but also raise funds for them to take part in activities and events for fun. 

“I wanted to do a challenge to see if I could do it. Mum and dad enjoy long rides and I wanted to see if I would be any good at it too. I talked to mum about making it a challenge and I wanted to help people.

“I know that sometimes refugees have to travel hundreds of miles and because of this wanted to see if I could raise money to help by doing a long-distance ride myself,” he said.

Mum, Emma, who is a keen long-distance cyclist herself, will be assisting Freddie in the challenge and said they have a lot of conversations about ‘kindness’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘privilege’ and have even attended refugee welcome meetings in the past.

“Freddie has wanted to do the Leeds to Liverpool canal for some time, we live close by and do little bits of it all the time.”

The pair will set off from Liverpool on Friday, cycle to Chorley and then Skipton and Leeds.

“I’ve done a lot of cycling for pleasure, and long-distance riding so he’s quite familiar with the idea of cycling for enjoyment, and a journey is for fun and exploratory.

“But recently we’ve been talking about the importance of privilege, and not everybody has the luxury of being able to go on journeys and cycling and travelling for fun.

And since the war broke out in Ukraine it’s brought it back into the conversation even more,” Emma said.

Freddie has spent the summer holidays training for the three-day challenge that is commencing on his tenth birthday. 

“I’m proud that he wants to do this. I think he has a lot of quiet determination, he’s not even really told anybody about it so he’s not doing it for praise, he’s doing it because he wants to try,” Emma added.

To donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/emma-vandergucht