Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Anya, 7, cycles 999 miles to virtually see a host of friends
ASEVEN-YEAR-OLD has raised more than £1,000 for the NHS through a virtual cycling tour to visit friends and family across the UK.
Anya Rodgers will be finishing her challenge in two weeks, which will have seen her cycle 999 miles in total, virtually meeting people at several stops along the way.
“At the start of lockdown, Anya decided that she would turn our daily exercise opportunity into a way of virtually visiting her friends and family by bicycle,” Julie Rodgers, Anya’s mother, said.
“Each day, we would note how far she had cycled and plot our journey virtually around the country.”
Anya has been completing the challenge with her family in Burbage, Wiltshire, with her three-yearold sister riding on the back of her mother’s bike.
Mrs Rodgers said: “We initially mapped out a 400-mile journey taking in grandparents in Stourbridge and Windsor, friends in Wokingham, Newbury and Calne, Glastonbury Festival and finally landing virtually in Torquay to see her aunt and uncle.
“When we got to each of our stops, we had a virtual cuppa over video call with them.
“On May 25, we reached our destination in Torquay and realised that with normality still far away, we had time to continue our journey. We decided to visit people who had donated to her page and plotted stage two, going all the way up to Scotland.”
Anya has fitted her challenge in while at first being schooled at home, and more recently going back to school in the mornings.
The challenge, which began on March 23 and will continue until July 25, has seen her crash her bike twice and raise more than £1,000 for NHS Charities Together.
“She’s been an absolute star,” Mrs Rodgers said.
“Since lockdown four months ago, she’s been cycling every single day apart from three. She’s loved it as a challenge. Come rain or shine, she has been cycling.”
To donate, visit www.justgiving. com/fundraising/anya-rodgers
ARETIRED professor has revealed his “traumatic” experience of living at a crash hotspot after his Bristol home was ploughed into for the second time in months.
Robert Porter, 74, says he was nearly killed when a Mercedes came through the stone wall of his home in the Henbury area of the city at 10pm on Thursday last week.
It is the latest in a spate of accidents near where Henbury Road and Hallen Road meet.
Mr Porter believes he would have lost his life last week if he lived in a modern house rather than behind the thick stone walls of the Old Court House, a former magistrates’ court on Hallen Road.
He said: “I’d locked the door for the night a little earlier than usual. If I’d been locking the door at 10pm, I would be dead.
“The Mercedes came through the stone wall with an almighty bang and into the hall. I must have been standing about a metre away. It was so traumatic.”
The Porter home has been hit by cars three times in the past 12 years, including a BMW crash last Christmas Eve which led to thousands of pounds’ worth of repairs.
Mr Porter and his wife Lissy, who says she has been too terrified to sleep in their home in recent days, fear it is only a matter of time before someone is killed in the area.
Mr Porter, a retired professor of Slavonic studies, said: “When the car ploughed in, rubble filled up the part of the hallway by the front door, which came right off its hinges.
“One sash window came out and the sideboard was thrown against the wall. Another window had to be removed. Our VW Polo was completely concertinaed and crushed into the stone wall. Our neighbour’s car was damaged as well.”
The salvage team recovered the Mercedes that night, but the Porters’ car had to stay wedged in the house until Saturday, because of fears it was the only thing holding up the building.
“It was the same recovery man who had come on Christmas Eve,” Mr Porter said.
“I told him, with a bit of black humour, ‘I’ll see you in six months.’ I tried to make light of it, but it’s sinking in just how lucky I was.”
The Polo has been written off and the structural engineer has told Mr Porter around £20,000 worth of of their Henbury Road home in the past two years.
“When you start to lose count, you know it’s got quite bad,” Mrs Claxton said.
The couple live close to a winding section of Henbury Road, which they say drivers often speed from as they near the one-way system.
Mrs Claxton said: “We’ve had our garden’s stone wall knocked down completely two or three times over the past couple of years.”
Dr Claxton, a former local Government officer, added: “Our last rebuild was about a year ago but since then another two cars have gone into the wall, so it’s leaning slightly.”
He says he has only received an apology from one of the drivers who crashed into his property.
“Almost all the others have disappeared, meaning we haven’t been able to claim for thousands of pounds’ worth of repairs on insurance,” he said.
Paul Hunt, landlord of the nearby Blaise Inn, said “anything to calm the stupidity” would be welcome.
The 63-year-old was in his home above the pub at 9pm one evening in April when a Peugeot crashed into the building.
He said: “The car went into the front of the pub. It damaged the stonework underneath the window, and the windowsill and the door frame. The car was a mess. The driver’s girlfriend was having go at him for being an idiot. Repairs cost about £5,000, which we were able to claim back.”
An police spokesman said the force is investigating last week’s crash. He said: “Inquiries, including reviewing of CCTV footage, are continuing. We’d still like to hear from any witnesses who have not as yet come forward.”
I’d have thought the authorities would have noticed something needs to be done
ROBERT PORTER