Stokes Tea & Coffee team involved in two charity fundraisers

The team at Stokes Tea & Coffee are supporting two fundraisers for charities – the first being the C2C2C 100-mile bike ride for St Barnabas Hospice, and the second raising funds for a boxer participating in the Ultra White Collar Boxing event to support Cancer Relief.

The annual C2C2C cycle ride will take place on 30^th June, bringing together brave, big-hearted folks from across Lincolnshire who’ll take on a mammoth 100-mile bike ride across the county to raise money for local charities.

Amongst the riders, members of the Stokes Tea & Coffee team will be riding as well as keeping cyclists caffeinated with coffee stations along the route too.

Nick Peel is the fourth generation to run the family firm and is current MD at Stokes Tea & Coffee, he said: “There’ll be 6 riders in our team and I’m one of them! It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s all for a really good cause. I think I’ll be stopping for quite a few coffees along the way!

“We’ve sponsored the C2C2C event for a few years now. It’s a great way of raising awareness of the fantastic charities and our beautiful county – and it also forces you to get fit too!”

The Stokes team is also supporting Nicola Barnard, a 31 year old who has never boxed in her life, but this brave lady is determined to take up the challenge to participate at the Ultra White Collar Boxing event to support Cancer Relief.

She said: “It is completely out of my comfort zone. This is a challenge I wanted to take on to benefit my wellbeing, both physically and mentally. I’ve got a number of health conditions and have never really felt confident that I could do this sort of thing, especially as I’ve not done contact sports or boxing before.

“When I was asked to take part, I thought it might be the perfect challenge for me and a great way of raising awareness and much needed funds for an incredible charity. So, it was a no brainer really, especially as cancer is something that affects all of us, directly and indirectly.”

Since signing up for the event Nicola has caught the boxing bug. She is training at least twice a week under the watchful eye of trainer, Darren Ibbotson who is donating his time to help Nicola prepare for the event.

She said: “The training has pushed me to my limits physically and mentally. I have become fitter and lost over a stone in weight which is great. I plan to carry on with the boxing training and may even compete again especially as it’s for such a worthy cause.

“Completing the challenge so far has proved to me that when the time is right you can achieve anything you put your mind to, which is something that I will take forward in my work with clients.”

Nicola Barnard