Rotherham doctor cycles from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for St Luke’s Hospice and Rotherham Hospice

Dr Ted Daly (62), of Clifton Lane, Rotherham, departed from the most westerly point in mainland Britain last Saturday (4) for a gruelling 15-day, 1,200-mile cycle ride along the Sustrans cycle network.

He has already more than doubled his £3,000 target, when gift aid is included, and is expecting his total to increase further still throughout his ride.

Dr Daly is raising money for St Luke’s Hospice and Rotherham Hospice, through the Master Cutler’s Challenge, which aims to bring in £200,000 for the charities overall.

He worked for the inpatient service at Rotherham Hospice from 1997 to 2010 and has since become its interim Chair of Trustees.

“The money we are raising goes towards the community work of [Rotherham] hospice,” said Dr Daly.

“It’s not just about providing a building where people go to die — we provide support to people for years.

“They might not have a terminal disease — it might be incurable — and most people prefer to die in their own home if the support is available.

“That’s where we provide most of the support — to make sure people have a comfortable end of life.”

Dr Daly said Rotherham Hospice cost about £6 million a year to run and half of that money was raised through donations.

“We have nine charity shops in town, we have a lottery, people donate money, some people leave money to us in their wills and there’s events like this,” said Dr Daly.

“The hospice is a good asset for Rotherham people but people only come into contact with it when they have relatives or friends that are dying, and it’s a great service provided for the public.”

Dr Daly is a member of Sitwell Cycling Club and has been cycling regularly for around nine years.

“We are entirely self-supported — we don’t have a support car or any vehicles following us,” he said.

“We have all of our equipment on panniers on the back of the bike.

“The furthest I have ever cycled previously was 122 miles from Retford to Cleethorpes and that was on a road bike.”

Dr Daly said the weather conditions could be the biggest challenge for him.

“The wind is always a problem,” he said.

“When you’re cycling into the wind hour after hour that can get very demanding and challenging.”

Dr Daly’s wife, Dr Jude Sanders (59), will be cycling as far as Manchester with him before returning to work at Broom Lane Medical Centre.

He will cycle solo for a few days before his son, George Daly (24), joins him from Glasgow to John O’Groats.

Visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/TedDaly to make a donation.