Here it is - another fund raising request!

But this is different. Well, it is to me and many others who knew Orly Feddy.

Orly was just 18 months old when she died suddenly. She was a beautiful, happy, friendly little girl - always smiling and she brought joy into the lives of everyone who knew her.

Her family and friends wanted to do something to keep Orly's special smile alive and raise money to keep other little children smiling in Orly's memory.

A Smile For Orly supports special children’s projects, such as:

·         purchase of specialist eye diagnostic equipment helping young patients and assisting retinal structure research.

·         Funding two children’s entertainers who entertain, distract and bring a smile to young hospital patients, helping them overcome fear and distress in hospital - the important of which in treatment is long recognised.

·         work at St Francis House which provides care for children and young adults with life threatening conditions - providing support for the whole family.

·         work at Langdon College Independent Living which gives young adults with learning disabilities the opportunity to live independently in their own home.

 To support A Smile for Orly, I will be cycling from Geneva to Nice over five days starting on 15 June. Cycling 440 miles isn’t the problem – the problem is the 16,000 meters of mountain climbs!

To put that in perspective it’s like cycling up Mount Everest, not once, but twice!

 The journey so far hasn't been straight forward. A knee operation in February meant training was badly delayed and falling off the bike a few weeks ago and getting an infected leg wound didn't really help either! Anyway, I've trained hard since then and am hopefully back on course.

 As well as paying all the costs of the trip I will be making my own donation to this worthy cause.

 On behalf of my children, who were Orly’s cousins and who played with her, and on behalf of all those who knew Orly and all those who benefit from the help A Smile For Orly provides, I ask for your help - by being generous and sponsoring me for this great cause.

 If you don’t sponsor me, I will send you a picture of me in lycra – we all hope it won’t come to that!

 Thanks very much in advance for your kind help.

 Stephen