Police Unity Tour raises £75,000 for Care of Police Survivors

A MAGNIFICENT £75,000 was raised by this year’s Police Unity Tour for Care of Police Survivors.

The cyclists rode 170 miles over three days – from London to Staffordshire – to raise money for the charity, which supports the families of officers who have lost their lives on duty. Pictured is the cheque presentation at the National Memorial Arboretum.

They Tour was also unanimously awarded the charity’s volunteer of the year award.

More than 100 cyclists and support crew, including police officers, police staff and families of fallen officers, left the National Police Memorial at the Mall in London on 24 July and arrived at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on 26 July in time for the COPS Service of Remembrance.

Ch Supt Robert Atkin, of the Metropolitan Police, who organised the ride (pictured centre), said the aim of the ride is to raise awareness of officers who have died in the line of duty, to raise money for COPS and “to bring officers together to remember the fallen heroes”.

Every cyclist rides in memory of a fallen officer and they are given a bracelet with a late officer’s name, force and last date of duty engraved on it. This is then handed over to one of the officer’s surviving family members when the Unity Tour arrives at the National Memorial Arboretum.

PC Darren Kirkwood, of Humberside Police, was for the second year running, awarded the Tour’s highest fundraiser award. He said: “Being a police officer it’s just my way of giving something back to our fallen heroes.

“COPS charity is a charity that you hope you never have to use, but it’s there if we do need it.”

He added: “The police service itself is a big family, but from the first year that we did the Unity Tour we’ve just met so many people and it’s the same people that come back year after year, and it’s just the camaraderie of it really. It’s just fantastic.

“To raise £75,000 is just amazing – it’s a challenge for next year that we’ve got to raise more.”