Welcome to the Official Truants India site!
Dear Sponsors,
Thanks for your many and generous contributions to our Truants’ India Bike Ride 2017 on behalf of Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy, Teenage Cancer Trust and. ChildLine/NSPCC. Total donations for the ride are a record breaking £605, 497 surpassing the £517,000 raised in Mexico 2015.
All of the costs of the ride were covered separately by all the Riders, so 100% of your donations go direct to the Charities. This amount is being split equally between these three Charities.
Beginning with the Egypt Ride in Jan 2010 the Truants have now raised £2,899,687 so we will pass the three million pounds landmark this year. We do hope you will continue to support us for Nordoff Robbins, Childline and the Teenage Cancer Trust and we will continue to get ourselves on our bikes every couple of years and of course continue with the Golf Days and Heavy Metal Truants on an annual basis.
On this website you see the menu linking to stories of the ride, where we were and what we did, plenty of photos embarrassing and otherwise, even a movie, and lots more. Hope you enjoy looking through it.
Here are some quotes from the Charities to simply let you know some of the many ways that your money will be used and just how beneficial they are to many thousands of kids who are in need of assistance:
Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy
The money the Truants have raised for Nordoff Robbins will help fund over 4000 sessions. I think you will all agree that this is incredible and worth every painful mile you rode and every sponsorship chasing e-mail you have had to send. Nordoff Robbins is a small charity with huge ambitions and without support from people who care as much as you do, we simply could not be here for children. I really cannot thank you enough for your support, energy and love. I wish I could express to you how much music therapy means to them but to be honest it’s impossible, music is changing their lives and your support has helped make this possible.
Jo Carter, Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Communications (and Truant!)
Teenage Cancer Trust
Every year we are amazed by the grit and determination this special group of people dedicate to us and this year is no different. We count ourselves incredibly lucky to have their unfaltering support and their contribution is helping us reach more young people with cancer to ensure they don’t face it alone. It is a monumental achievement hitting £3 million in 5 years and we really can’t thank you enough.
Almost half of young people with cancer are not treated in Teenage Cancer Trust units. Instead they are treated in hospitals where there isn’t the same level of expertise, and they might never meet another young person with cancer. This is a scary and lonely experience. So, we are building a wider Nursing & Support Service within the NHS to help all young people, wherever they receive treatment. To make this happen, we need to raise more than £20 million every year and this year’s enormous £201K donation will help us do exactly that.
Jane Ashton, Head of Music & Entertainment at Teenage Cancer Trust
ChildLine
On behalf of Childline, I wanted to extend our gratitude to each and every Truant for their amazing commitment and dedication over the years to supporting children. Reaching the £1m mark for Childline is truly outstanding – over the years this has helped us answer calls from over 250,000 children and young people who have nowhere else to turn, and are so in need of our support. Thank you so much for making this possible.
Peter Wanless, Chief Executive, NSPCC (Childline)
Many thanks to Holly Elliott and Natalie Walker from Classic Tours for making the ride possible with their expertise and experience; our Classic Team Leader Henk for his patience and knowledge ( and hills!), ably assisted by Gavin and Dr ; the India based team of mechanics, cooks, drivers, guides and helpers; Rod’s PA Helen for her never ending patience, assistance and all her hard work putting this site together; Ruth Fluin-Hardy for all the Charity Fundraising accounting and even more patience; Ryan Titley for generously spending a lot of time editing our movie masterpiece.
Also thanks to some of our fellow Truants – Barry Drinkwater and Global Merchandising for providing our splendid yellow, green and of course purple India Ride T-shirts; Mark Allen and Dairy Crest for our Awards; Tom Baigrie for supplying the tall tales; Ryan Titley for his excellent camera work; Rachel Luckhurst for taking the professional photos; and Shacky & Primal for the excellent India Cycle Shirts.
We hope you enjoy looking through all this and thanks again for your much valued support!
– THE TRUANTS