Derek's Welsh 1000 Mile Bike Ride
Donation protected
"Derek's Welsh 1000 Mile Bike Ride."
My wife Sheila, who lost her life to secondary Breast Cancer 3 years ago is my inspiration for “The Derek Welsh 1000 Bike Ride.
To remember her, who was the love of my life for 41 years, a love that will always be a part of me. She captivated my heart on the first day I saw her, and she showed me that love requires sacrifice, that without sacrifice for others, it is not love.
She lived her life quietly doing what she did, and by this she has inspired me by her actions towards others.
Sheila’s life revolved around considering others, seeking to enable them by the support she gave, first at home, and then in her work outside the home, she was a pioneer, a trailblazer, traveling to Boston in Massachusetts from her home village of Hendy in Carmarthenshire, in 1972; traveling to the other side of the world, where she lived and worked in Boston for 4 years as a companion for the grandmother of a large family, when she was 19 years old.
She lived quietly, except when it came to standing up for the adults with special additional needs that she cared for in her day to day work; then Sheila could be very vocal, and would bravely stand up to anyone and everyone when necessary, in order that they would do what is right. I will always remember Sheila’s massive heart for others.
The bike ride will give me a focus as I still struggle to come to terms with her being taken three years ago, it will help me to get fit and stay fit, and also to continue doing what she always did, care for others.
There are two particular causes on my heart for which I seek to raise money, whilst at the same time, staying fit, raising awareness, and promoting caring for others.
Half of the donated money raised will go to Maggie's 'Everyone's Home of Cancer Care'
Maggies in Swansea, was a little heaven every time we went together as we received support through Sheila’s journey of living with cancer.
And, the other half (to a new project also close to my heart, which was also close to hers) to help fund;
JB Learning Academy Ltd (James & Bradley)
JB Learning Academy Ltd will run practical workshops, which teach adults and children with special and additional needs practical life skills in a working environment. My experience is that these people so wish to learn, and flourish, but face so many additional challenges.
J&B are two young men with additional needs that I currently work with and have both been an inspiration to my wife Sheila & I on our life journey together.
"Derek's Welsh 1000." is a cycle ride around Wales, and also a ride from South to North Wales, it will cover Just over 1000 miles and will be done in stages, this will be over a two month period which will include a two week period of concentrated cycling with overnight stops around the coastline.
The stages will start on the week ending 30th May 2021 which was Sheila’s birthday. I would welcome people joining me on different stages of the journey as social distancing allows.
I have subscribed to Mapometer and have got as far as mapping and saving the coast routes, which hug the coastline. I am now working on the breakdown of the Lon Las Cymru route before finalising the dates and order of the ride
Recently I bought a new touring bike -“Ortler Bergerac, and also had my Dawes bike restored at “Krankz” in Llanelli. Phil also did a couple of adjustments on the Ortler Bergerac before my first time out on it. I highly recommend the Krankz husband and wife team, Phil and Natasha now based in Burry Port just down from the train station, and if you live within the areas they cover, then I ask you to support www.krankz.co.uk
They have supported me in so many ways, as their hearts were moved to help me set this page up, and are supporting me ongoing.
JB Learning Academy Ltd (for James & Bradley)
“J” stands for - James
He is a young man who spends all his time outside his house in a wheelchair, and whose prospects for his life, is just sitting around doing very little, whilst being disconnected from the world outside his house. He is blind and also has other difficulties that he has to deal with not least of which is the apathy that our society has towards him in just accepting this situation as being ok.
James has been an inspiration to me, particularly since Sheila died, and I get far more back from him than I give him; he loves to learn new things and is like a sponge, and I love that I can enable him to learn and to do things through the support that I give.
I have worked with James for over 8 years off and on, and daily for over 5 years.
James is learning Welsh with a Lancastrian accent as I speak to him in welsh with my own Lancastrian accent.
I speak the words first in welsh and then speak the same words in English and James is learning by repetition, he loves to use what he has learnt and as he does so he is teaching others. His family do not speak Welsh, but they are learning because James has taken home what he has learnt.
He has also learnt about food hygiene, and has a Food Hygiene Certificate, and is now able to legally go into the Coleshill Centre's main kitchen to assist in food preparation. Jan the cook at Coleshill and the rest of the staff had welcomed him in with open arms and he was a real asset, up until lockdown last March. James was also signed up to do some NVQ units in food preparation by Sharon, our local NVQ assessor.
James will be an asset in teaching others and will be an example to others who want to learn, he is polite and is quoted as saying he does not have favorites.
“B” is for - Bradley
He a young man living with Autism and lives with health issues, and has been in my life for 10 years.
In all that time he has expressed a desire to want to work, his prospects however are much the same as James, because he needs a certain level of support in order to work, at least at the start, after which Bradley can be left to get on with his own workload. I would say that Bradley would brighten any work environment as he is sociable, hard working, and willing, and has always shown himself to be reliable in both his work placements and in the voluntary work that he has done, he has good concentration levels when working and once he starts something he wants to finish it, he is most certainly not a quitter.
Bradley has been on a number of Job experience placements and in every one of them he excelled at what he was asked to do, but despite this he has been disappointed on a number of occasions with his work placements, having been promised a job at the end, he has then been let down.
Bradley has good computer skills, and did Tourism and admin at college, and has certificates in his core subjects, and has his own unique skill set. Bradley has volunteered for a couple of years at a foodbank in Brynamman, and at the National trust in Llandeilo where he is part of the tour guide team.
Bradley changes the whole dynamic of a place when he is there, he has the ability to draw others in and include them, he is an articulate young man and a joy to be around and has much to offer as we start to set up this new learning academy.
Both Bradley and James will be invited to sit on the steering group of the learning academy as representatives of their peers, if they wish to do so they will be supported to do so. The steering group will lead and guide the learning academy's development and they will therefore be a big part of that development.
Our current system with its dwindling resources is now more disabling than it is enabling, and there is very little realistic expectation of progression in the support that is offered. It would appear that we are just spending millions of pounds supporting people to do nothing, and so the system is therefore not fit for purpose.
Though there are so many able and caring people working within the system, yet they work under so many restrictions that they are in fact working with their hands tied, the focus is on cost cutting and therefore is not person centered which the law says it is meant to be.
The majority of the people I have been in contact with and have supported, want to be doing something real and with the right support and encouragement there is no reason why they can't.
Thank you reading my story, and my reasons for fundraising. I would be so grateful if you could donate any amount you find comfortable, and if you can't donate money, and you are local to me perhaps you could volunteer your time instead???
Derek Murphy
My wife Sheila, who lost her life to secondary Breast Cancer 3 years ago is my inspiration for “The Derek Welsh 1000 Bike Ride.
To remember her, who was the love of my life for 41 years, a love that will always be a part of me. She captivated my heart on the first day I saw her, and she showed me that love requires sacrifice, that without sacrifice for others, it is not love.
She lived her life quietly doing what she did, and by this she has inspired me by her actions towards others.
Sheila’s life revolved around considering others, seeking to enable them by the support she gave, first at home, and then in her work outside the home, she was a pioneer, a trailblazer, traveling to Boston in Massachusetts from her home village of Hendy in Carmarthenshire, in 1972; traveling to the other side of the world, where she lived and worked in Boston for 4 years as a companion for the grandmother of a large family, when she was 19 years old.
She lived quietly, except when it came to standing up for the adults with special additional needs that she cared for in her day to day work; then Sheila could be very vocal, and would bravely stand up to anyone and everyone when necessary, in order that they would do what is right. I will always remember Sheila’s massive heart for others.
The bike ride will give me a focus as I still struggle to come to terms with her being taken three years ago, it will help me to get fit and stay fit, and also to continue doing what she always did, care for others.
There are two particular causes on my heart for which I seek to raise money, whilst at the same time, staying fit, raising awareness, and promoting caring for others.
Half of the donated money raised will go to Maggie's 'Everyone's Home of Cancer Care'
Maggies in Swansea, was a little heaven every time we went together as we received support through Sheila’s journey of living with cancer.
And, the other half (to a new project also close to my heart, which was also close to hers) to help fund;
JB Learning Academy Ltd (James & Bradley)
JB Learning Academy Ltd will run practical workshops, which teach adults and children with special and additional needs practical life skills in a working environment. My experience is that these people so wish to learn, and flourish, but face so many additional challenges.
J&B are two young men with additional needs that I currently work with and have both been an inspiration to my wife Sheila & I on our life journey together.
"Derek's Welsh 1000." is a cycle ride around Wales, and also a ride from South to North Wales, it will cover Just over 1000 miles and will be done in stages, this will be over a two month period which will include a two week period of concentrated cycling with overnight stops around the coastline.
The stages will start on the week ending 30th May 2021 which was Sheila’s birthday. I would welcome people joining me on different stages of the journey as social distancing allows.
I have subscribed to Mapometer and have got as far as mapping and saving the coast routes, which hug the coastline. I am now working on the breakdown of the Lon Las Cymru route before finalising the dates and order of the ride
Recently I bought a new touring bike -“Ortler Bergerac, and also had my Dawes bike restored at “Krankz” in Llanelli. Phil also did a couple of adjustments on the Ortler Bergerac before my first time out on it. I highly recommend the Krankz husband and wife team, Phil and Natasha now based in Burry Port just down from the train station, and if you live within the areas they cover, then I ask you to support www.krankz.co.uk
They have supported me in so many ways, as their hearts were moved to help me set this page up, and are supporting me ongoing.
JB Learning Academy Ltd (for James & Bradley)
“J” stands for - James
He is a young man who spends all his time outside his house in a wheelchair, and whose prospects for his life, is just sitting around doing very little, whilst being disconnected from the world outside his house. He is blind and also has other difficulties that he has to deal with not least of which is the apathy that our society has towards him in just accepting this situation as being ok.
James has been an inspiration to me, particularly since Sheila died, and I get far more back from him than I give him; he loves to learn new things and is like a sponge, and I love that I can enable him to learn and to do things through the support that I give.
I have worked with James for over 8 years off and on, and daily for over 5 years.
James is learning Welsh with a Lancastrian accent as I speak to him in welsh with my own Lancastrian accent.
I speak the words first in welsh and then speak the same words in English and James is learning by repetition, he loves to use what he has learnt and as he does so he is teaching others. His family do not speak Welsh, but they are learning because James has taken home what he has learnt.
He has also learnt about food hygiene, and has a Food Hygiene Certificate, and is now able to legally go into the Coleshill Centre's main kitchen to assist in food preparation. Jan the cook at Coleshill and the rest of the staff had welcomed him in with open arms and he was a real asset, up until lockdown last March. James was also signed up to do some NVQ units in food preparation by Sharon, our local NVQ assessor.
James will be an asset in teaching others and will be an example to others who want to learn, he is polite and is quoted as saying he does not have favorites.
“B” is for - Bradley
He a young man living with Autism and lives with health issues, and has been in my life for 10 years.
In all that time he has expressed a desire to want to work, his prospects however are much the same as James, because he needs a certain level of support in order to work, at least at the start, after which Bradley can be left to get on with his own workload. I would say that Bradley would brighten any work environment as he is sociable, hard working, and willing, and has always shown himself to be reliable in both his work placements and in the voluntary work that he has done, he has good concentration levels when working and once he starts something he wants to finish it, he is most certainly not a quitter.
Bradley has been on a number of Job experience placements and in every one of them he excelled at what he was asked to do, but despite this he has been disappointed on a number of occasions with his work placements, having been promised a job at the end, he has then been let down.
Bradley has good computer skills, and did Tourism and admin at college, and has certificates in his core subjects, and has his own unique skill set. Bradley has volunteered for a couple of years at a foodbank in Brynamman, and at the National trust in Llandeilo where he is part of the tour guide team.
Bradley changes the whole dynamic of a place when he is there, he has the ability to draw others in and include them, he is an articulate young man and a joy to be around and has much to offer as we start to set up this new learning academy.
Both Bradley and James will be invited to sit on the steering group of the learning academy as representatives of their peers, if they wish to do so they will be supported to do so. The steering group will lead and guide the learning academy's development and they will therefore be a big part of that development.
Our current system with its dwindling resources is now more disabling than it is enabling, and there is very little realistic expectation of progression in the support that is offered. It would appear that we are just spending millions of pounds supporting people to do nothing, and so the system is therefore not fit for purpose.
Though there are so many able and caring people working within the system, yet they work under so many restrictions that they are in fact working with their hands tied, the focus is on cost cutting and therefore is not person centered which the law says it is meant to be.
The majority of the people I have been in contact with and have supported, want to be doing something real and with the right support and encouragement there is no reason why they can't.
Thank you reading my story, and my reasons for fundraising. I would be so grateful if you could donate any amount you find comfortable, and if you can't donate money, and you are local to me perhaps you could volunteer your time instead???
Derek Murphy
Organizer
Derek Murphy
Organizer
Wales