One event that we can all help make a success is the annual Ride+Stride organised by the Dorset and Wiltshire Historic Churches Trusts each September. If you take part, your church receives 50% of your fundraising, and the rest goes to DHCT or WHCT, who give it back out in grants to support building projects. It's a win-win!
Ride + Stride will take place this year on 13 September 2025
Check out stories and photos from around the diocese from last year's Ride+Stride:
Revd Jenny Nelson said "We enjoyed a great day cycling the 16 parishes, 17 churches of the Three Valleys Benefice, around 47 miles, with Hilfield Friary and Sherborne Abbey visited too. It was a privilege to cycle and to walk together, meeting one another along the way! A day of grace, roadways by brooks and streams, sunshine, warm conversations and amazing refreshments. Thank you for the team Three Valleys, the DHCT who do such great work bringing us all together, ‘not by navigation but by love’. Thanks be to God."
In Wiltshire, a team of cyclists and motorcyclists from St James' Ludgershall took part. "A brilliant day for our walkers to Fyfield, exploring locally, our cyclists crisscrossing over to Hampshire and Wiltshire, and our motorcyclists attempting to visit every church in the Deanery! Amazing efforts from everyone so very well done."
Tony and Cath from Christ Church Worton with Marston cycled 118 miles and visited 79 churches between them raising money for historic churches as part of 2024's Ride+Stride.
Event fundraising Resources
• Practical support for running events from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising
• Encouraging generosity as part of Christian discipleship
Related News
£1k from a village calendar
For the last four years Richard Foley and the PCC at Tarrant Hinton have produced a calendar, the sales from which raise at least £250 each year for their church, St Mary’s.
St Peter’s Silton Ride + Stride
Churchwarden Peter Williams shares his experience of the Dorset Historic Churches Trust Ride + Stride event.
