A group of friends are preparing to up for a huge cycling challenge to raise funds for childhood cancer research in memory of a much-loved mate who died from a brain tumour as a teenager.
Samuel Priestley was 14 years old when diagnosed with pilocytic astrocytoma in 2018. After almost four years of intense treatments and operations, Samuel passed away in February 2022, aged 18.
After Samuel died, his parents, Sharon and Keith, set up Samuel’s Promise, a Special Named Fund at Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG), to raise money for much-needed research into low-grade paediatric brain tumours and surgical advancements.
On Sunday, September 15, six of his former secondary school friends at Rawlins Academy, in Quorn in Leicestershire, are taking on the gruelling London to Brighton Cycle Ride to raise money for the fund.
Organiser Sam Davis explained that when he suggested the idea to the other members of ‘Team SP10’ - Cameron Bayley, Joe Barwell, Dan Sheward, Joe Guildford and Will Harmer - they jumped at the chance to fundraise in Samuel’s memory together.
He said: “Obviously the best people to do it with are these lads, so I asked them, and they all quickly said yes. I’m happy we can do it together.”
The team said that tackling the 55-mile slog, which begins at Clapham Common in south London and ends at Brighton beachfront, is a “fitting tribute” to sports-mad Samuel, who they also all played football with.
Dan said: “Samuel was a very sporty lad, and I think that by doing something sporty, it goes quite well with who we're doing this event for. It's the kind of thing he’d have done himself.”
The group are under no illusions as to how hard the ride will be, particularly when navigating the mile-long climb to the famous Ditchling Beacon - the highest point in East Sussex - as they near the end of the challenge.
But, when things get tough, they said that Samuel and the cause will never be far from their minds, which will provide the inspiration needed to see them over the finish line.
Cameron said:
We're doing it for Samuel, and we're going to do the best we possibly can for him and for the charity as well.
Samuel was always such a smiley, happy kid and would always put a smile on people's faces. He was just an all-round lovely guy.
Why we’re doing this is always going to be in the background. I think he’d be proud of us, and happy that we're doing this for him. He would have done the same thing for anyone else.
It won’t be a walk in the park, it’s a substantial distance. It'll be challenging, so we’ll have to put our minds towards it.
Dan added: “You don’t have to have known Samuel to know how important it is that we’re doing this, but I think everyone who did would agree, he was the nicest person ever.
“Even with all he had to go through, he still had a smile on his face the whole time, he was such a positive lad.
“We were all good mates of Samuel's. Doing this [for him] means a lot to all of us, especially that we can all do it together.
“We want to make sure Samuel’s Promise is something everyone knows about and that we can get everyone behind.”
Sharon said:
Samuel’s friends were so important to him, and it means so much to us to now see the same boys he grew up with as mature young men choosing to do something so positive in his memory, and their commitment to help fundraise and grow awareness, taking his name and their memories of him as inspiration.
It just proves what a genuine and true friendship they all had. He’d be proud, as are we.
Having raised over £1,300 already, Cameron said each individual donation provides a little more motivation and urged people to donate: “Every little helps. If everyone donates a little bit here and there, it spurs us along, and it's giving money to a great cause.”