{"id":261,"date":"2015-08-01T21:14:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T20:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/?page_id=261"},"modified":"2015-08-01T21:14:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T20:14:06","slug":"big-ride-press-release","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/?page_id=261","title":{"rendered":"Big Ride Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
FROM: Owen Cooper on behalf of\u00a0The Big Ride<\/i><\/div>\n
DATE: Thursday 30 July<\/div>\n
RELEASE: Immediate

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Hundreds join The Big Ride from Edinburgh to London for children of Gaza backed by Jeremy Corbyn and Maxine Peake!
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An epic 435 mile capital-to-capital ride from Edinburgh to London will start\u00a0on Saturday<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0to raise essential funds for\u00a0<\/span>Gaza\u2019s children<\/a>, as well as creating awareness across the UK of the Palestinian struggle. The event is endorsed by MPs from all parties, celebrities and human rights campaigners including\u00a0<\/span>Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>, Maxine Peake, Ricky Tomlinson, Mark Thomas and Jews for Justice for Palestinians.\u00a0

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The Big Ride send off in Edinburgh includes speakers:\u00a0<\/span>Dr Mona El Farra<\/a>\u00a0(from Gaza Vice President of Red Crescent and Director of MECA in Gaza); Claudia Beamish (MSP and Chair of the Palestine CPG) Sandra White (MSP Co-Convener of CPG) and others.<\/span>\u00a0Dr El Farra, who lost 9 members of her extended family in an Israeli airstrike during the 2014 massacre of Palestinian civilians, said: \u201cThe Big Ride is breaking barriers that separate human beings who should be equal regardless of race, colour or religion. We dream of a day when we can welcome cyclists in a free Palestine to enjoy the beauty of our country that has been devastated by long decades of Israeli occupation, disposition, and annihilation.\u201d 01 August will be the anniversary of the death of her family members.<\/div>\n

We have already reached over half way to our\u00a0\u00a350,000<\/a>\u00a0target set for MECA, the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance.\u00a0

The youngest participant is 15-year-old Ciaran Wakefield, a pupil at High Storrs School in Sheffield.\u00a0<\/b>Ciaran said: \u201cAs a teenager I look at Gaza and people my age there and think of the lack of opportunity they have and it\u2019s really devastating. It\u2019s so important that people find out what is happening in Gaza and Palestine, especially to young people.

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\u201cPersonally it\u2019s going to be a great challenge for me. It\u2019s an amazing opportunity to do such a ride, a once in a life time opportunity. It\u2019ll be great to push myself and see if I can do it. I can\u2019t wait to get on my bike and find out what I\u2019ve let myself in for!\u201d

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At the other end of the age spectrum is retired doctor Dr John Gleisner from Walthamstow in London. Mr Gleiser, who is 80, said: \u201cI will be cycling as far as my legs will carry me. Definitely from Edinburgh to Newcastle and hopefully joining the last stage into London.

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\u201cI want to draw attention to how children in Gaza are living in what is an open prison, surrounded by Israeli forces in the air and on sea and land. There are children who die in natural disasters but this really is a man-made disaster creating suffering on an immense scale\u201d.

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On Sunday<\/span><\/span>\u00a09th<\/sup>\u00a0Augusts all cyclists are welcome to join for the last 2 miles at\u00a01pm<\/span><\/span>\u00a0at Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corner to head for the\u00a0rally at Archbishop’s Park<\/a>!<\/span><\/div>\n
In the build up to the event, on 04 July we ran national advertisements in The Independent and \u2018i\u2019 newspapers\u00a0remembering the children of Gaza<\/b><\/a>\u00a0killed in 2014. The cost of this publicity has been raised entirely through donations via a crowd-funding campaign. This vindicates the public demand for support and awareness raising for the children of Gaza.<\/div>\n

<\/span>The Big Ride departs from Edinburgh on Saturday August 1 passing through Selkirk (Scottish borders), Newcastle (August 2<\/span><\/span>), Northallerton (August 3<\/span><\/span>), Bradford (August 4<\/span><\/span>),\u00a0Sheffield (August 5<\/span><\/span>)<\/b>, Loughborough (August 6<\/span><\/span>), Northampton (August 7<\/span><\/span>), Luton (August 8<\/span><\/span>) and arriving in London on\u00a0Sunday August 9<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0where there will be a reception and rally at\u00a0Archbishop’s Park, London SE1 7LE at\u00a01.30pm<\/span><\/span>. Speakers include: Dr Mona El Farra,\u00a0Len McCluskey General Secretary of Unite and Grahame Morris MP, chair of Labour Friends of Palestine.

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RELEASE ENDS<\/div>\n
Contact details<\/div>\n
Greg Challis 0780 779 5621<\/div>\n
Web:\u00a0www.redspokes.co.uk\/thebigride<\/a>
E-mail:\u00a0thebigride@redspokes.co.uk<\/a><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FROM: Owen Cooper on behalf of\u00a0The Big Ride DATE: Thursday 30 July RELEASE: Immediate Hundreds join The Big Ride from Edinburgh to London for children of Gaza backed by Jeremy Corbyn and Maxine Peake! An epic 435 mile capital-to-capital ride from Edinburgh to London will start\u00a0on Saturday\u00a0to raise essential funds for\u00a0Gaza\u2019s children, as well as … Continue reading Big Ride Press Release<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-261","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":262,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/261\/revisions\/262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheffieldpsc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}