TWO teachers and their five-year-old daughter are taking on an incredible cycling challenge to help raise money for Pendleside Hospice.

Ella Redhead, assistant head teacher at Lord Street Primary School in Bolton, and Sally Tidswell, a science teacher at St John Thursby Community College in Burnley, along with their daughter Emma, will be cycling 1,519 miles on turbo trainers in their front garden in Brierfield.

The number of miles was not selected randomly, but signifies why the hospice means so much to the community.

Ella said: “Last year Pendleside supported over 1,500 families and, as we are living with the lockdown of Covid 19, we have added this to our mileage.

“We are hoping to complete this challenge on bikes connected to turbo trainers, Emma on her scooter.”

Ella said she felt she needed to help after seeing how the hospice had been impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

She said: “I saw an article that said the hospice had had to cancel everything because of the virus.

“They depend on fundraising, so we thought about what we could do.”

She added: “I’ve had an auntie and an uncle cared for there and they’ve treated so many local people over the years.”

The family of three will be cycling the 1,519 miles between them, the equivalent distance from the north of England to Morocco.

Ella and Sally are both working from home trying to ensure their students' education continues despite the onset of the crisis and are building up their cycling miles once the working day is finished. Emma meanwhile has already cycled 10 of those miles on her scooter.

The family have also been boosted by the support of Pendle Borough Council Leader Mohammed Iqbal.

Ella said: “We live on a main road and he pulled up in the car.

“At first I didn’t know who he was but then he explained and said that if we were happy with it, he’d pass our details on to the papers.”

This has helped to raise awareness of the family’s fundraising cause and has helped raise an amazing £1,600 in donations, but they are not stopping there and will be welcoming any more donations that generous members of the public are willing to give.

To donate go to justgiving.com/fundraising/ella-redhead