Name: Pope Francis blesses family from MK, riding from Rome to London for cancer charity
Uploaded: 2023-09-01T14:34:19.000Z
Duration: 48 s
Description: A family from Milton Keynes have been blessed by the Pope ahead of a charity bike ride from Rome to London for Cancer Research UK. They presented His Holiness with a personalised cycling vest. The trio are part of a group that has raised £370,000 so far for the charity.

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A Milton Keynes family have been blessed by Pope Francis ahead of a cycle ride from Rome to London in aid of Cancer Research UK.

The ‘holy’ send-off took place at The Vatican before the team settled into their saddles for the perilous 2,384km journey dubbed ‘The Italian Job’.

Part of a fundraising team Scott Dryburgh, his daughter Lucy, 21 and son Tim, 26, were congratulated on their efforts to reach a £500,000 fundraising target for life-saving research and were thrilled at Pope Francis’s reaction to a special, personalised gift of a Cancer Research UK cycling shirt, adorned with the Pope’s name.

Tim Dryburgh and Scott Dryburgh, left and centre, from Milton Keynes, hand over a personalised Cancer Research UK cycling vest to Pope Francis as a thank you for blessing their journey from Rome to London.

Tim said: “That was something else. I wasn’t expecting to experience something as special as this, especially for it to be mentioned to everyone in front of the general audience and then to get to shake the hand of His Holiness– it’s a promising start to the ride.

"We received lots of cheering as we were leaving and some high fives as well so it fills me with confidence for the journey, that I didn’t have before.”

The trio will join a total of 28 self-funded riders and six support crew whose lives have been touched by cancer, to cover six countries and climb 27,490m, over 17 days.

Lucy is the youngest member of the team which ranges from 21 to 74 years, but brother, Tim and Dad, Scott, are no strangers to this type of challenge. Tim was just 15 years old when he first rode with the group who have raised £370,000 by reaching destinations including Gibraltar, Venice, Monte Carlo, Rome and Barcelona.

Tim added: “I didn’t really do much cycling and didn’t train for my first ride but absolutely loved it. I got home, didn’t touch my bike again until the next ride and managed it comfortably again.

“This year will be my Dad’s last ride and it’s my sisters first, so I wanted to do this one to support them. To begin with, it was to do something for a good cause, but in the past year my aunt has been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer so we have a personal motivation now too.”

You can sponsor the team here

Watch: Milton Keynes family blessed by the Pope ahead of charity cycle ride from Rome to London