A CHARITY cycle challenge at Pembroke Refinery recently has seen a Pembrokeshire children’s charity ride home with a huge donation of cash.

Throughout July members of the workforce at Valero took part in a 1,000km Cycle Challenge on a set of exercise bikes located across the refinery every day over three weeks, with each participant doing a 15 minute ride.

While the 1,000km target was missed, 87 workers succeeded in achieving a creditable 401km, in the process raising over £2,240 with Valero match funding for the Pembrokeshire Sibling Group, the refinery’s 2018 charity of the year.

The group supports the siblings of children with disabilities in Pembrokeshire.

In addition to the rider’s sponsorship fundraising, throughout the challenge more money was raised by selling cakes and raffle tickets.

Awards were given to riders with the best recorded distance for men (Rob Dyde), women (Elen Jones), men over 45 (Neil Good), women over 45 (Sian Hughes) and best overall team (Richard Allen, Andy Thorp, Jason Bellmaine and Joe Muehlbauer), who each received a £100 gift voucher for Enterprise Cycles.

Speaking after a cheque presentation ceremony with representatives from the charity, Refinery Public Affairs Manager Stephen Thornton, said: “This event allowed us to harness the team spirit across the Valero family to raise much needed funds for Pembrokeshire Sibling Group. All our volunteers did an amazing job and it was wonderful to see everyone taking part so enthusiastically and pushing themselves to achieve this result for our 2018 charity.”

Lee Hind, chairman of Pembrokeshire Sibling Group, said: “We are grateful to Valero for this wonderful contribution. On behalf of the Pembrokeshire Sibling Group I want to thank everyone who pedalled their way to raising this fantastic sum that we will put to good use supporting children here in our county.”