Marathon cycle challenge supports heart patients

A funeral arranger from Wythenshawe Funeral Services has cycled 144km in “challenging conditions” to raise funds for a local charity supporting heart patients.

Grant Longden of Funeral Partners visited seven of the firm’s funeral homes around Manchester, Stockport and Liverpool to support The Ticker Club at Wythenshawe Hospital.

Longden said: “It was a difficult challenge only to be made more challenging by the adverse weather that day. The more it rained, the colder I got, I’ve never been so cold and wet in all my life. When the bad weather came, it was a case of digging in and getting it done.”

The funeral arrangers seven-hour ‘Tour de Partners’, involving climbs of over 1,000m, started at Wythenshawe Funeral Services. He took in GW Turner Funeral Directors in Edgeley, Raymond Massey & Son Funeral Directors in Dukinfield, Michael Kennedy Funeral Services in Blackley, Kavanagh & Coates Funeral Services in Heywood, Howard’s Funeral Directors in Southport and Ainsdale, before finishing at Graham J. Clegg Funeral Services in Maghull, Merseyside.

Collecting donations along the way, he hopes to have raised £250 for the charity, which supports those undergoing cardiac procedures at the hospital and is run by ex-patients.

Longden added: “I’ve had great support from Funeral Partners and my colleagues and the teams at all the branches were brilliant and pampered me a bit before sending me back on my way. The next day I wasn’t too sore and felt proud of what I’d accomplished.”