Darley Dale couple raise hundreds for Alzheimer's Society on LEJOG bike ride

Kevin and Christine Croker, who once ran the local Post Office alongside their financial advice business, have been raising money for the charity for several years but after Kev’s mum, Frankie, died from the condition they decided to embark on their biggest challenge yet.

After months of training up and down the hills of the Peak District, they set off on September 10 on the gruelling 874 miles journey from Cornwall to Caithness.

Back home this week and resting his road-weary limbs, Kevin said: “It was very hard going. We had the 50 miles per hour winds and sideways rain carried over from Hurricane Ian to make it even harder, but we had to complete it to raise monies for such a worthwhile cause.”

Over the past decade, the couple has taken on a demanding array of challenges for causes close to their heart.

They walked up Ben Nevis at midnight for the Alzheimer’s Society, and Snowdon for the Prostate Cancer Research Centre.

Christine dived in to the Great Manchester Swim for Macmillan Cancer Support, and Kevin followed suit for the Christie hospital charity.

Then together they completed the Great North Swim in Windermere for Derbyshire palliative care charity Helen’s Trust, and even returned the next year to do it again for Alzheimer’s Society.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, a set of conditions involving the progressive decline of brain functioning affecting around 850,000 people and their families in the UK.

Fundraising for the charity helps to provide specialist advisers who can guide patients and their carers through the complex maze of challenges which comes with the illness.

The Alzheimer’s Society also invests in ground-breaking research towards better ways of treating and caring for people with dementia, and campaigning for a more equitable society where those affected by dementia are supported and accepted, able to live in their community without fear or prejudice

To add to Kevin and Christine’s final total for the LEJOG challenge, go to https://bit.ly/3RCmjK3.

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