The current Mayor of Leek, North Staffordshire, is Bill Cawley, who has chosen Jessie’s Fund as one of his two Charities of the Year.

Bill is carrying out a 500km challenge to cycle from Leek to Leek. By which he means cycling from Leek UK to Leek in the Netherlands. The Dutch Leek is a small community about 30km from Groningen in the north of the country. It has a population of around 12,000 and the name is derived from a brook or a watery place (just like our Leek). Locals are known as Leeksters.

The Mayor is not physically cycling from the UK to Holland but is using a bike in a gym and is doing the trip virtually: he is taking a course that is a direct line between the two Leek.

It is a route that takes you due east through the Peak District, Nottinghamshire, to the south of Lincoln and crossing the coast near Skegness and then 300km over the North Sea before arriving on the Dutch coast at the Frisian Islands.

The Mayor first came across Jessie’s fund while on holiday in Scotland. He spoke to Jessie’s father, Alan George – one of the founders of Jessie’s Fund. Alan is the viola player in the Fitzwilliam String Quartet, who the Mayor used to see perform while a student at York University.

In order to reach the distance target Councillor Cawley will average 16km a day. Please sponsor Bill’s cycle challenge here.

Bill has also organised a quiz as part of his fundraising efforts. On 26th March, at 4pm, ‘It’s Your Round’ will be a parody of a 1970s pub quiz, competing for the Charley Farley Cup, with guest question master Bamber Monkfish. This will be at the Maude Institute, Leek ST13 5HB, and will cost £5 per team member. If you’re not far from Leek and could put together a ‘Jessie’s Fund Team’, get in touch with us and we’ll send you some supporting material.