Monks Park's Derrick cycling to Paris for Above and Beyond

Derrick Heffter is a clinical pharmacist at Monks Park Doctors Surgery, and is taking part in an epic cycle ride from Bristol to Paris in September in aid of the Above and Beyond charity.

Why is he doing it?

He likes to set himself a challenge. Previous challenges have included being a Project Manager for Raleigh International in 2015 where he took 3 months off work to volunteer to build a kindergarten in an indigenous region of Costa Rica. The site was a 7 hour trek from the nearest road and there was no electricity! This challenge is for a great cause and will be fun! It helps that he loves cycling and being outdoors.

How much does he hope to raise?

There is a minimum fundraising amount of £1,700. He hopes to raise in excess of £2,000, and is currently at around the £600 mark, and is supposed to have raised £1,360 by mid June, so there is a  little way to go!

More about the charity Above & Beyond

Above & Beyond is a local charity raising funds for Bristol city centre hospitals within the University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust (UH Bristol):

https://www.aboveandbeyond.org.uk/your-hospitals The money will go to The General Fund – it gets allocated to the area of greatest need, decided by the hospital staff!

More about the challenge

Derrick needs to  tackle a 470km route (nearly 300 miles) which takes in Andover, Portsmouth, Le Havre and Gournay en Bray before finally arriving in Paris. Over 50 cyclists have already signed up and their aim is to raise £150,000. Their fundraising page link can be found at

https://b2p2019.everydayhero.com/uk/derrick

Ways to raise funds

Derrick did a Galleries Shopping Centre bucket collection earlier this month which raised more than £230 and plans on doing a car boot sale. He hopes to fundraise in various stores in North Bristol.