Deb Lee’s cycle challenge for MU150

When 1,600 of our members gathered at St Paul’s Cathedral for our 150th Anniversary Celebratory service, many travelled great distances by train, car and coach to attend. But one of York’s Diocesan Trustees, Deb Lee, went above and beyond in her choice of transport. 

Deb chose to embark on a nine-day cycle ride from York to London, stopping off over 20 times on the journey to meet members, before finishing up at St Paul’s Cathedral for the anniversary service. Cycling over 370 miles, she carried a prayer capsule with her containing the prayers of the members and branches she met, climbed a cumulative height of over 4,200 meters (nearly the height of Mont Blanc!), and raised over £5,000 for Mothers’ Union. 

Once she’d arrived back in York and swapped the bike saddle for a comfy armchair, we caught up with Deb to hear more about her incredible feat. 

Why did you to decide to undertake such a physical challenge to fundraise for Mothers’ Union? 

My friends and family would say it’s because I’m mad! I do enjoy cycling, although I’m a very bad cyclist – I wobble all over the place. As a York trustee, I thought it would be good to do something provincial that would take me all over the place and allow me to meet lots of people on this anniversary year. 

What preparations did you do to get ready for the cycle ride? 

I started planning in October last year. First, I had to decide on the route, then I had to contact people in both York and Canterbury provinces to determine stopping points in lots of different dioceses. 

My aim was to visit ten dioceses, and eight cathedrals/minsters. Once I’d decided a route, I sent it to the DP’s in York and Leeds, and worked with them to decide on some good places to stop, and to obtain contact details for people en route in case I ran into difficulties. I had lots of great breakfasts and lunches with members throughout. The DPs were really helpful on lots of planning Zooms [in the lead-up to the bike ride]. I’m really grateful for their support. 

I presume you didn’t cycle alone – who else joined you on your trip? 

Geoff [Fellows] cycled with me too. Geoff’s wife Gill used to be DP for Sheffield; on a call with her and some outgoing/incoming DPs, we got to chatting about my planned cycle ride. She suggested Geoff might want to join me. I had never met him until about a month before we first set off! My husband Richard met us at the places we went to, and could track me using my phone so that he could welcome us wherever we went. 

In Coventry, I stayed overnight with my daughter, and Bishop Sophie [Jelley] jogged in with us the following morning up to Coventry Cathedral. She’s been a Mothers’ Union member for years and wore an MU T-shirt she received in Kenya as she jogged with us.  

Bev Jullien, our recently retired CEO, joined us on the penultimate day; she had links with the churches around Harpenden, so it was a joyful day for her to visit the area. 

And, as part of your visits to all these branches, you carried a prayer capsule with you. What can you tell us about that? 

The prayer capsule was York province’s initiative for the 150th. Our Bishop wrote a provincial prayer, and after a 150th anniversary provincial celebration service at Manchester Cathedral in March, the capsule spent a week in each diocese in York province. They each added a prayer to the capsule, and it’s been on every possible form of transport – car, tram, bus, horse, train, and more. It’s been round the TT track on the Isle of Man, onto Lindisfarne, spent some time with the RNLI on the west coast, and visited Sycamore Gap on Hadrian’s Wall. Every diocese took it to somewhere significant to them, imbuing it with a real persona. It was a tactile connection between the dioceses, showing us how much strength we have in difference, and symbolising the common thread that runs between all of us. 

There was a handover service between each diocese each time the capsule changed hands, which used the same liturgy, providing real continuity throughout. It was given to me outside York Minster on the Tuesday morning (2nd June) when I set off, and the branches I visited were really pleased to see it when I visited them. 

You chose to incorporate fundraising as a central aim of your cycle ride, too. How did you approach combining fundraising with connecting communities, and spreading the word about Mothers’ Union? 

Fundraising starts with fun! It’s important to do what you enjoy, which is why I picked cycling to fundraise, as I enjoy cycling. I even used the bunting template on the website, laminated them, and put them on the back of my bike to make little flags! They meant that everyone could see I was from Mothers’ Union. 

If you like baking, raise money baking cakes – you can do what you like, and every little bit matters. Every act is a mustard seed that could have a bigger impact than you might think. We do all we do because we care about Mothers’ Union, which means when we meet people, we can talk passionately about the organisation and what it achieves. 

I met people on my travels, often in my cycle kit with my helmet on and my high-vis jacket, which meant I was on the receiving end of some double-takes from strangers! After talking to people about Mothers’ Union, they were often inspired to donate, or to learn more about what we do. 

In one hotel outside London, I spoke to one fellow guest in the lift, and he remembered how his local branch had cared for his mother when she had Alzheimers, and he gave me £10. Every act, from all of our members, makes such a difference. 

Before you arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral, your first stop in London was to Mary Sumner House, where you were greeted by our staff team. The atmosphere when you arrived was joyous! 

We were given a great welcome, and the sun had come out – it was fabulous! The first thing someone said to us was “would you like a cup of tea?” – and Atim [Abrams, our Membership Engagement Manager] brought me one instantly. The feeling of welcome at MSH was echoed everywhere we went.  

We had a handover service for the prayer capsule in MSH Chapel, where more prayers were added to it, including a memory stick containing pictures of the capsule on its journey to that point. Then we cycled to St Paul’s in my glad rags rather than my cycle gear to photograph the capsule at St Paul’s, before bringing it back to MSH to be placed in Mothers’ Union’s archive. 

The service at St Paul’s was an incredible way to end my trip. Seeing so many members gathered in such a beautiful place, and the support we received from our Archbishop, was enormously special. 

You can relieve Deb’s extraordinary achievement by viewing the day-by-day updates on her JustGiving page. You’re welcome to donate to her challenge page, or to any of the other fundraising challenges on our 150th Anniversary Fundraising Challenge page. 

If you’re inspired by Deb’s story and would like to do something you enjoy to fundraise for Mothers’ Union, please get in touch with us at fundraising@mothersunion.org.