RIDE + STRIDE

Will a church be open, might it provide a welcome cold drink or even a loo nearby? (Uploaded 1 Sep)  

These questions have been asked by riders and striders every year and now we hope that we can answer most of them. If you open the blue link below and enter either a postcode or the name of a church and then click on the map pin, details of that church will appear. A "church" icon in green means that it will be open. If the icon is grey, we may not have been informed or have been told it will not be open. Green or grey icons for loos and refreshments will answer all three questions. We hope that this new facility will help. It is very recently completed and may well not be fully accurate but we judged it would be a pity to delay any longer or until 2027! Please let us have some feedback, especially if you encounter problems. We will try to fix them next week. Contact [email protected]            

Ride + Stride Church finder

Ride + Stride for Dorset churches 2026 will take place on Saturday 12 September. Here is how it will be arranged. (Uploaded 9 July) 

For participants: R+S is organised at individual church level by our corps of Church Representatives. If you are keen to take part or learn more about the event, please contact your Church Rep. To get you going, please open the guide to Riders and Striders here  There are two ways to raise sponsorship. For those who prefer to give cash or a cheque, pledges can be recorded on our Sponsorship Form here  However we encourage you to raise sponsorship through JustGiving using the Trust’s campaign page for 2026. Full details of the process for signing up to JustGiving are here On the day, you will need to record your visit to each church on the Record Form here

To help you plan your route and especially to find churches that are open, are offering refreshments or have a lavatory, we will be publishing that information on this page in August. Thank you in advance for deciding to take part. We encourage you to team up in twos and threes or whole families to share the fun of a great day out in Dorset’s countryside. Good luck with raising sponsorship and enjoy a safe day.

If you are new to R+S and do not know who your CR is, please message our R+S Administrator, Eve Baker,  whose address is: [email protected]. She will put you in contact with your nearest CR. We look forward to you joining the several hundred participants on this amazing fund-raising day. 

For Church Representatives (formerly Parish Organisers): Thank you for agreeing to be the Church Rep this year. You will shortly receive a printed Pack with full details of how the event will be run. The covering letter is here The key documents are the letter to Riders + Striders, Sponsorship Form, and Just Giving guide which are to be found in the paragraph above. To help you with publicising, the event we have included bright yellow A4 and A5 posters. You may find the draft Press Release here useful to adapt for your Parish News and a Handout here a convenient way to encourage support. The Register of Visitors to Churches here and an Apology Notice here complete the pack. Once the big day is over, CRs are asked to gather in the cash and cheques and then fill in the yellow Financial Management Form here and pink Remittance Form here We are also keen to hear how the day went on the green Feedback Form here We ask that all four forms, together with any cheques, are submitted, in a single remittance, to our Honorary Treasurer by not later than 30 Oct 26. The sooner the sponsorship is sent in, the sooner churches will receive their 50% back!
Thank you        

Morshead Trophy presented to All Saints Wyke Regis 

The Morshead Trophy was presented at a gathering of parishioners and supporters by Colin Weston, Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset on 22 April. The church hosted a party to celebrate their achievement and heard from Church Representative and keen cyclist Jeff Thomas how his team had gone about increasing their mileage and sponsorship year by year since 2021.  For the full report click here         

Full results for 2025 R+S can be found in our Annual Report & Review, a link to which is on the About Us page. Paper copies will be distributed by Deanery Area Reps over the next few weeks. St Andrew, Trent put in a brilliant performance which included a large element of match funding. Sadly we did not receive a Remittance form and so were unaware that the actual total raised was over £4000, which would have put them into the frame for the Morshead Trophy. The Trustees made the award on the figures presented and took account of the 5 years of steady progress in fund-raising by Wyke. We hope that St Andrew's will take part again in 2026 and make sure that they include all funds in their Remittance form and send it in by 31 October.        

Ride + Stride 2025 Saturday 13th September (Updated 22 Jan 26)

Ride + Stride for Dorset churches took place as usual on the second Saturday in September. The Just Giving and BACS transfer funds now exceed £100,000, which with Gift Aid which makes 2025 our best year ever.