The ride is non-profit making, run by volunteers and exists to raise money for charities. Over the years the ride has been running, we have raised well over £140,000 for charities.

The beneficiaries of the 2008 ride will be as follows:

Royal Air Force Charities

Action4Youth
Offers support and guidance to youth clubs in Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes by providing services and activities designed to make youth work in affiliated clubs as effective as possible, as well as offering advice and training for club leaders and management committees.
www.action4youth.org

The Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance Trust
Based at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire, the Air Ambulance operates seven days a week in daylight hours. It carries life saving equipment and is crewed by a pilot and two paramedics. The paramedics are provided by the NHS; all other costs are funded by the Trust. One in every eight incidents attended by the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance is a riding accident, so helping fund the continued operation of the ambulance is important to all riders.
www.airambulancetvac.org

Bucks Association for the Blind
Buckinghamshire Association for Blind and Partially Sighted People is a registered charity which provides support and services to anyone with serious sight loss throughout Buckinghamshire. Their services are available free of charge to anyone who needs them in the Buckinghamshire County Council area and some in the Milton Keynes area.
www.bucksblind.co.uk

Chilterns MS Centre
The Chilterns MS Centre in Halton provides a range of drug-free symptom management therapies (including physiotherapy, high density oxygen treatment, lymphoedema massage, reflexology, wheelchair training and dietary recommendations) as well as advice and support for all those with multiple sclerosis and their families. The Centre operates primarily on donations, so the money you raise is especially important.
www.chilternsmscentre.org

Friends of Florence Nightingale House
Supporting Florence Nightingale House hospice at Stoke Mandeville. The hospice provides palliative care for patients and their families facing the problems associated with life-threatening illnesses, including cancer, heart failure and chronic lung disease. The majority of patients visit the hospice for symptom control and respite care, usually for short periods of time to help them get through an immediate crisis, during which the hospice provides physical, social, psychological and spiritual support for the individual and those closest to them. Patients are therefore able to stay longer at home, come in to the hospice when necessary and return home to enjoy life until the next crisis. The financial help provided by the Friends of Florence Nightingale House allows the hospice to provide services such as the Day Hospice and Children’s Hospice at Home respite care.
www.ffnh.org.uk

Aylesbury Vale Macmillan Cancer Support
Around 2900 people are diagnosed with cancer in Buckinghamshire every year. In Bucks Macmillan has 27 professionals – nurses, doctors, therapists and benefits advisers – who are specialists in cancer care. They help people manage their symptoms and aim to make living with cancer easier. Macmillan relies on donations like ours for 99% of its income.
www.macmillan.org.uk/bucks

The Riding for the Disabled Assocation
The Riding for the Disabled Association helps over 24,000 children and adults in the UK to ride, offering them the chance to regain mobility and a sense of achievement. The ride supports the Ayesbury and Wendover group.
www.riding-for-disabled.org.uk

Stocklake Park School
Stocklake Park School in Aylesbury caters for students aged 11–19 with profound and multiple learning dificulties and who have a variety of complex needs. The school used the money we donted last year to buy a trampoline to provide rebound therapy for their students.
www.park.bucks.sch.uk

The Vale of Aylesbury with Garth and South Berks Hunt
Many of the staff who make the ride run smoothly on the day – mounted stewards, office staff, check point officials – are volunteers from the Vale of Aylesbury with Garth and South Berks Hunt. Without their help we couldn’t run the ride.
www.valeofaylesburywithgarthandsouthberks.com

A variety of other local charities

Each rider must raise a minimum of £30 sponsorship (or sponsor themselves for a minimum of £30), and all sponsorship monies must be paid on the day, in cash or by cheque with valid bank card.