A group of friends who cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats have raised more than £10,000 for a charity that helped a man with autism to communicate.
The challenge saw three family members from Stevenage - Rob, Rosa and Scott - complete the 1,000-mile journey to fundraise for charity S2C.
They were inspired by a non-speaking autistic family member, Thomas Watson, who found his voice through the charity's programme, learning to “talk” at the age of 24 by using a method called Spelling to Communicate, which transformed his life.
His mum, Joanne, said: "This programme involves non-speaking individuals learning how to spell out their thoughts, feelings and opinions by using a series of increasingly complex letter boards.
"The process has been transformative for Tom, us as parents, his sister and our entire family."
READ MORE: Mum's joy at non-verbal son, 23, finding his 'voice'
The S2C programme is based in the USA and up until now there have been no UK based practitioners to provide the necessary support for other families looking to achieve the same goal.
Inspired by Tom, Joanne has since trained to be an S2C practitioner, graduating along with nine other people.
Joanne is encouraging other people to get involved. She said: "This is a great start but, as the word spreads, the demand for qualified, UK based, expertise to support families will quickly overwhelm availability.
"The next group of budding practitioners have already started their training and will qualify later in the year. We hope to make this an ongoing and growing process."
In support of this goal, Rob, Rosa and Scott cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise funds to help provide S2C training bursaries in the UK.
The team completed the challenge - covering 914 miles in just 12 days - and smashed through their fundraising goal.
Joanne said: "It was an amazing experience for everyone involved. Tom was able to cycle with the team for the first few miles, as they left Land’s End, and was there at the finish to cycle the last few miles into John O’Groats.
"It was a fantastic adventure, but definitely a more gruelling experience for the three cyclists."
Tom wrote about the challenge and spoke about his pride at the cyclists' achievements. He said: "The best part of the whole adventure for me was definitely cycling with the three heroes for the last few miles into John O’Groats. After following them for so many miles in the car, it was a privilege to be part of the team for the grand finale.
"As we arrived, I felt so proud of their achievement and so grateful for all the support we received along the way.
"Another important aspect of this undertaking was to spread the awareness of S2C throughout the country. We have made a great start, but there is a lot more work to be done."
Joanne said: "One of the most motivating factors throughout the trip was the continuous stream of donations that simply kept on coming as the word spread about the cause.
"Each night, as we fed and watered the weary cyclists, it was obvious that the best lift of all came from the daily updates on the total they had reached.
"Our heartfelt thanks go out to all of the amazing supporters who have donated to the cause, and we simply could not believe our eyes as the total grew and grew, reaching an astonishing £10,000 by the time they reached the finish line.
"An additional bonus to such wonderful generosity has been the awareness spread by the event. Many more people now know what Spelling to Communicate is and are talking about it."
For anyone who does want to learn more, visit i-asc.org.
To make a donation, visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/Spelling-2-Communicate9.
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