Mick Purves and Val Burgess to bike 1,000 miles around Scotland for The Lee Rigby Foundation

Mick Purves

Mick Purves and Val Burgess are biking 1,000 miles around Scotland between 12-17 June to raise funds for The Lee Rigby Foundation.

Val and Mick said: “We’ll being doing a charity ride out around Scotland to raise funds and awareness of The Lee Rigby Foundation. Lee was the young soldier from Middleton who was cruelly murdered on the streets of London in 2013. This little-known charity, which helps and supports bereaved families of service personnel, was set up by Lee’s parents who still live local to us.”

Fusilier Rigby, from Langley, was murdered at the age of 25 on the streets of Woolwich by Islamic extremists on 22 May 2013. Having enlisted in 2006 at the age of 19, he had served in Afghanistan with his regiment. His unit was based in Cyprus.

Mick initially planned for him and partner Val to have a ‘ride-out’ around Scotland, to visit a couple of museums and memorials. Soon, that quickly developed into a plan to visit all the regimental museums in Scotland and the duo began thinking of doing their trip for charity.

Val and Mick are both members of Rigby’s Guardians, a bike group set up by Gavin Vitler, who served in the Army Cadets with Lee. It is understood Lee’s mum, Lyn Rigby, gave her permission for the bikers to bear flags with Lee’s image on to raise awareness and support for the foundation.

The Lee Rigby Foundation was set up after Lee’s death by his parents, Lyn and Ian, to provide peace, safety and support to Forces’ families who may also be going through bereavement or trauma. The foundation was granted charitable status on 27 April 2016.

The Foundation is currently refurbishing three houses and lodges in the hills of Staffordshire to provide ‘a welcome escape for bereaved families and veterans’; The Lee Rigby House, The Moor Court Hall ‘Annexe’ and The Lee Rigby Lodge. It is hoped they will be available from mid-2017 onwards.

To donate, visit:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Michael-Purves