Judith Foord, 91 years young , was reminiscing this week about the early days of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust and of the time in 1982 when her late husband Anthony Foord DFC, then a Trustee, was scratching his head for a fundraising idea to follow up on a very successful flower festival the year before.
“I’ve got it!” she shouted from her bath and the bike ride fundraiser was born.
Geoffrey Probert, today’s Chairman of the Suffolk Historic Churches Trust, explains that Judith’s story has only recently come to light so he was pleased to ask her to accept the offer of becoming a Vice President of the Trust, and to visit her in her house in Aldeburgh to to hear her story and to formalise the honour.
Judith explained that being the daughter of a military family she had seen that the bike ride was an idea that could be scaled up and organised parish by parish all over Suffolk.
It was an instant success with the then Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich and the Duke of Grafton leading the way on their bicycles - rather unsteadily, as she recalls.
All over Suffolk, cyclists of all ages took to the lanes to raise money for their own and other churches. That first year the bike ride raised £58,000, equivalent to £190,000 in 2024 money.
Today the Trust has 650 local bike ride organisers of all denominations across Suffolk and the bike ride has gone on over the years to raise £10 million in today's money.
All the money goes towards the upkeep of Suffolk’s glorious legacy of church buildings.
Since 1975, the Trust has made 2,800 grants to 520 churches, chapels and meeting houses.
Judith’s idea is a model which has been adopted by nearly every county in England.
Not bad for one bathtime eureka moment!
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