Sheffield Children’s Hospital staff are cycling 500 miles to COP26 to raise climate change awareness

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital will cycle 500 miles from London to Glasgow to deliver a message about climate change and air pollution to world leaders at COP26.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The bike ride will start at Great Ormond Street hospital on October 24 and will end in Glasgow on October 31, where a letter will be delivered to world leaders at the COP26 conference.

The Ride for Their Lives event is designed to raise awareness of how climate change and air pollution causes illness and death, especially in children.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust staff, Gary Candow (Maintenance Supervisor), Philip Branford (Environmental and Sustainability Officer), Jenny Featherstone (Head of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy) and Jaime Gray (Speech and Language Therapist), will be joined by staff from six UK children’s hospitals for the ride.

Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital will cycle 500 miles from London to Glasgow as part of the The Ride for Their Lives eventStaff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital will cycle 500 miles from London to Glasgow as part of the The Ride for Their Lives event
Staff at Sheffield Children’s Hospital will cycle 500 miles from London to Glasgow as part of the The Ride for Their Lives event

Rider Gary Candow said: “I’ll be riding alongside consultants and chief executives - this is the whole NHS. It’s an opportunity for a huge amount of people to get the message across - there are millions of people networked with the NHS.

"Everybody has got a responsibility. I’m putting the message out to everyone I work with about the benefits of riding a bike and just getting out of the car, changes like that can make such a huge difference on our climate.”

During the week-long ride, they will stop at Weston Park in Sheffield on October 27, whilst also visiting Birmingham and Newcastle along the way.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Air pollution contributes to respiratory conditions like asthma, as well as lung cancer and heart disease.

Recently the World Health Organisation tightened its guidelines on air pollution levels, describing it as "on a par with other major global health risks such as unhealthy diet and tobacco smoking."

Ruth Brown, acting chief executive of Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The global problem of air pollution and the harmful health effects on children and young people are well known. At Sheffield Children’s, we’re proud to be playing our part in raising awareness of the dangers of air pollution and its wider health impacts to give our future generations the best chance of a healthier future.”