TCF News, 109 Winter 2021

Winter 2021 - TCF Newsletter | www.tcf.org.uk 2 Well, he made it, reaching his goal on 27 October after an incredible and gruelling 922 miles! Gary raised over £2300 for The Compassionate Friends. These vital funds will go towards supporting our work with bereaved parents. Congratulations, Gary, on your amazing challenge and a huge THANKYOU from everyone at The Compassionate Friends. Gary Goodwin has written about the motivation for this epic journey and the rewards and challenges along the way. “When Stevie took his life back in September 2017 our family’s world was turned upside down and a darkness enshrouded us all. I speak for all of us as a family that when we talk about that time in our lives, we all agree that its best described as a kind of dark pain that none of us understood, wanted or had knowledge of. This darkness comes with no light, no escape and no pain killers. The ripples of a child’s death are felt deep and wide, As you suffer in your own silent painful world, there are others outside of your scope that are going through their own pain unable to reach out to you or tell you what they’re going through, perhaps because of some unwritten rule that to tell you of their pain would be in some way selfish, disrespectful or wrong. This is where we found TCF helped us in more ways than we knew. Su (Stevie’s mum) found TCF a place where she could find comfort and help. However, unbeknownst to us, so could other members of our family who also found comfort and common ground between themselves and for this Su and I will be forever grateful. The mere thought of cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats would have never been enough in itself to get things started. However, if you factor in; the chance to spotlight a great charity, plus the opportunity to keep Stevie’s memory very much alive and close to our hearts, while at the same time getting the message out there to bereaved families that they’re not alone, this kind of made a challenge like this a bit more appealing. On the flip side of the “appeal” before I started this challenge, I was 53 years old, 18 stone and totally unfit! The mere thought of losing weight, getting fit and getting on a bike (the first time in over 30 years) was a challenge in itself. However, after 18 months of gym, diet and