Ride and Stride is a sponsored bike ride around Milton Keynes that raises money for Buckingham Historic Churches Trust. Almost £21,000 was raised in 2025. Half the money raised by us comes back directly to our church, the rest goes to the Trust.
In 2024/2025 Milton Keynes did very well out of the Trust. They distributed about £50k, of which St Mary’s Bletchley received £10,000 for repairs to high level stonework and £5,000 went to St Mary’s Wavendon for repairs to coping stones when one fell off. If you see our friends at St Mary’s going to worship in hard hats, you now know the reason why! All Saints Bow Brickhill received £2,000, St Michaels and All Angels Aston Clinton received £10,000
So in total Milton Keynes got more than half. It’s very kind of the churches outside Milton Keynes to cycle round the county to support our churches!
So, having persuaded you that Ride and Stride is a good deal, what are we doing to support it?
Milton Keynes has one of the longest Ride + Stride routes at 26 miles, with an expected 5 hour duration. To give you any idea of the route it takes in Tattenhoe, Bradwell and Great Linford. A kind of Milton Keynes Orbital Cycleway, similar to the M25. That’s too far for many people.
So we intend to add a 14-mile cycle route basically from Willen Church to St Mary’s Wavendon and back. The route would be:
All Saints, Milton Keynes Village MK10 9AF
St Lawrence’s, Broughton, MK10 9AA
St Mary Magdalene, Willan, MK15 9AA
Holy Trinity Church, Woolstone, MK15 0AJ
St Mary’s Woughton on the Green, MK6 3BS
St Thomas’, Simpson MK6 3AF
Christ the King, Kent’s Hill, MK7 6HQ
St Mary’s Wavendon, MK17 8LW
All Saints, Milton Keynes Village
For walkers, the Milton Keynes Stride route is Calverton to Wolverton. So again we are branching out on our own and promoting All Saints, St Lawrence, Willen, Woolstone and back. Basically round Willen Lake. This is also expected to take five hours as there are only four churches, but seven pubs on the way!
Harvester Fox Milne
The Cross Keys
The Barge
The Swan MK Village
Broughton Hotel
Willen Dragon
Any non-motorised travel is invited: horse, bike, Shank’s Pony and mobility scooters.
If you prefer, you can choose your own route around any of the local churches which are open. If the church is not staffed, you can usually sign a list on the door.
The date for your diary is Saturday 12th September. You’ve got nearly a month to get fit and find some sponsors.
Please, if you want to do one of the routes, sign up on the sheet near the font in church or email allsaintsmkv@gmail.com Sponsor forms are now available in church, too. Charles is our church co-ordinator, so do speak to him for more details.
If you don’t want to walk or cycle, you can still support the event by:
a) sponsoring someone for their cycle or walk
b) volunteering to staff All Saints for an hour on 12th September.
Please do support this effort!