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Tour de Standish...

30/7/2017

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​Some people live in villages, towns and cities where interesting, exciting events are a regular occurrence, but sadly our local village rarely sees anything of note apart from excessive amounts of new houses being built and massive build ups of traffic. For two weekends in July we were privileged to be a ‘go through’ on two major sporting events at completely opposite ends of the sporting scale. 
First up was the annual Manchester to Blackpool cycle ride organised by the Christie Hospital in Manchester. The ride regularly attracts 7000 cyclists of all abilities who travel the 60 mile route to raise funds for a variety of cancer charities. Our village is almost the half way point and provides the cyclists with a tough climb up a hill towards the village centre.

​Locals line the route (although its not quite Tour de France standards!) and cheer the riders on. First through the village are the sporty athletes complete with racing kits and cycles and their eye on the time followed by groups of riders just having a go on everything from tandems to shopping bikes complete with baskets. It’s a great event to watch and raises thousands of pounds for some very worthy causes.

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This was followed 2 weeks later by a ‘serious’ sporting event – the Ironman – a very extreme version of a triathlon involving a 2.4mile swim, 112 mile cycle ride and a 26.2 mile marathon. Standish was part of the cycle loop which saw each competitor complete the loop twice. An amazing achievement. 
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Our photography was somewhat interrupted this time when one of the competitors came off her bike in one of the more isolated parts of the course. We won’t comment on the two hours it took for the medics to come and check their competitor over but instead be grateful for the opportunity to meet such a lovely lady, Amelia from Philadelphia, an Ironman veteran on her first UK race who thankfully was not seriously hurt.

Both races offered us great photo opportunities and like any photoshoot - mixed results! Chris was particularly pleased with his panning shots!
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Poppies and Percy.

8/7/2017

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​Every family has a hero somewhere and one of ours has always been Viv’s Great Uncle, Percy Thomas who fought in World War 1 and died on the eve of his 20th birthday in Ypres, Belgium.

His family had kept his letters and belongings, including part of his army kilt and his bible. His memory has been kept alive in the family across the generations and we have passed his story on to our children. Together as a family we have visited his grave and the area he spent his last days fighting for our country.

​25th July 2017 sees the 100th anniversary of his death – a poignant date we wanted to commemorate. He died on the eve of the battle of Passchendaele. Born in Liverpool, he fought with the King's Liverpool Regiment and was killed the day before his 20th birthday. We're proud of Percy and all the thousands of others who gave their lives for us and continue to serve to this day. 

Viv’s family are from Liverpool and Percy fought initially as a member of the King's Liverpool Regiment. When we saw the Royal British Legion planned a Poppy Walk in Liverpool we decided it was the perfect opportunity to honour Percy’s memory and raise vital funds to support the work of the Royal British Legion.
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So on Saturday 1st July, we took a family, plus dog, trip out to Liverpool to take part in the first Royal British Legion Liverpool 10k Poppy Walk, as the Married with Grown Ups team, and walked to remember the short life of Uncle Percy.
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After a week of cold and rainy weather it was a huge relief to wake up to sunshine and after a breakfast of TooGood Farm’s delicious pork sausages we set off for Liverpool. The walk began at the Town Hall where you were given a map of the route with 20 questions to take you to interesting places around the city. We started in a room at the town hall which commemorated solders from Liverpool who had died in the war. Viv’s family lost four family members in World War 1 – brothers Harry and William Thistlewood, Viv’s great Uncles, Great Grandad George Jones and Percy. Harry and William were easy to find on the wall and the room also contained a plaque commemorating them and other members of their church which had been dug up in someone’s garden several years ago. Sadly despite the assistance of a member of staff we could not find Percy or Grandad George’s names – the room is ordered in a very unusual way and we were conscious of Navi the German Shepherd patiently waiting outside!
Walkers set off at their own time and their own pace to journey round the city. Despite being familiar with the city due to the family connections we visited several places we had not even realised existed. The walk included the Cavern, St George’s Hall and cenotaph, both cathedrals, Liverpool One and Albert Dock and the waterfront.

For Navi, the almost 2 year old German Shepherd it was her first visit to a big city and there was a lot going on! She was very unsure of the Lamb bananas and took fright at a memorial to Liverpool’s VC winners which must have seemed very big and very scary! She encountered lot of crowds, a very big queue waiting to meet Brooklyn Beckham, marching bands, scary statues and very friendly people! She happily sniffed her way round the city stopping to kiss several people and even had her photo taken by The Royal British Legion photographer.

At the end of the 10k walk we returned to the Town Hall and were presented with some lovely poppy medals by veterans – presumably from the Falklands war. Refreshments and entertainment were available but we were unable to take part as Navi wasn’t allowed inside!
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We enjoyed the walk very much – it was a very interesting and entertaining way to raise money for a very worthy cause supporting the armed forces and their families. We felt it was a very apt way to commemorate Percy and the sacrifice he gave for our country.

​For more photos visit our gallery page.

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