THEY rode proudly into town to say a brief "hello" - but a cheering crowd turned it into a long goodbye for the Manchester Evening News charity bike ride heroes.

The six-man team, cycling 950 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats for the Kirsty Howard Appeal, were delighted to be greeted in Manchester by well-wishers and TV cameras as they approached the halfway mark of their gruelling journey.

M.E.N deputy managing director Mark Rix and his team were in buoyant mood outside the town hall in Albert Square, where they were told they had raised approximately '15,000 of their '20,000 target to help safeguard the future of the Francis House Children's Hospice in Didsbury.

Before leaving for the next leg of the trip to Kirkby Lonsdale, Mark, whose daily reports in the M.E.N have helped boost the total, said: "It has been tough but we all feel we're getting stronger and stronger every day.

"The fantastic support we've had from M.E.N readers, and all the people we've met along the way, have kept us going, and we're determined to reach that '20,000 target."

Mark, who was busy selling Spiderman badges and collected '30 while waiting to set off again, said the team would be stopping off at a hotel in Wigan, where a colleague had just held a wedding reception - to collect more cash from the 140 wedding guests.

Kirsty, who is spearheading a campaign to raise '5m for the hospice for sick children, had hoped to meet the M.E.N team but is still recovering from an operation to have two teeth removed.

Campaign organiser Susie Mathis, who was in Albert Square to meet the cycle team, said the fund total is just '200,000 short of the '3m mark. She said: "That is just fantastic and a real tribute to the generosity of the people in the north west, and others who have met the cycle team.

"If everybody continues to give as generously as this we should hit that '3m figure before Kirsty's ninth birthday on September 20. That would be something special."

Donations can be made at www.manchesteronline.co.uk/cycleride.

Or send a cheque, payable to M.E.N Kirsty Appeal, to Manchester Evening News, 164 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3RN. Mobile phone users can donate '1 by texting the word "Kirsty" to 83105.

carl.palmer@men-news.co.uk

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