GROVE House – part of the newly merged charity Iain Rennie Grove House Hospice Care – is delighted to be among the chosen charities for this year’s Rotary Cycle Ride, SACCR 2011, taking place on Sunday, May 15.

The regular annual event, now firmly entrenched in the St Albans diary, raises thousands of pounds for local charities. Organised by the Rotary Clubs of St Albans, over the past 10 years the event has raised in the region of �30,000 for the hospice.

With a choice of four fully marshalled routes, 10, 20, 30 and 40 miles, the event is suitable for everyone from families to cycling fanatics. The routes all start and finish at Oaklands College and mainly follow quiet country lanes.

This year a team from Grove House will be competing to help swell the numbers as well as income for Grove House. The team includes Liz Hizli from the fundraising department who with John Pliny and Simon Gay will be using the event as part of their training programme for The Deloitte Ride Across Britain, a nine stage cycling event taking place taking place between June 11-19, also to raise money for the hospice.

Karen Mullinex, from the St Albans Priory Rotary Club and the Cycle Ride Committee, said: “Rotary is about putting ‘Service above Self’. Grove House is full of people who serve our local patients through illness and at the end of life. We are proud to support them and help them continue their vital work in this community.”

She added: “I was surprised when I visited the hospice for the first time, recently; I wasn’t at all sure what to expect and was a bit daunted at the prospect. What I found was a light, bright, happy place, full of smiling faces – how wonderful for the patients who use the services there. They deserve all the support we can give them.”

The Rotary Clubs of St Albans are working to make this year’s Cycle Ride the best ever, to find out more and register on line visit www.saccr.co.uk