Demelza's Land's End to John O'Groats challenge 2026

1In May/June 2026, APR Administrator Demelza Henderson will cycle 1150 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Her route is unique – connecting twenty different retreat houses and leaders as she travels the length of the country. She hopes to complete the challenge in just 22 days!

Demelza will be cycling in aid of the APR Retreat Bursary Fund, which helps to finance retreats for people who might not otherwise be able to afford the full cost themselves. Please sponsor Demelza generously, so the APR can offer even more retreat bursaries to even more people in future!

Sponsor Demelza now!

To donate via Paypal, please use the link below
 

Or if you prefer to donate by cheque or direct bank transfer, please contact Demelza on promoting.retreats@gmail.com for details of how to do this.

If you are able to Gift Aid your donation, and thereby allow us to collect an extra 25p for every pound you give, we would be very grateful if you could also complete this very simple Gift Aid Form. Thank you.

The Route

Demelza’s route will not follow any standard ‘End-to-End’ route – rather, she will be connecting twenty different APR Member Retreat Houses and Retreat Leaders as she travels from the most westerly tip of Cornwall to the northernmost tip of Scotland. These will include:

The APR relies on donations and membership subscriptions to continue its work, especially its ability to offer increasing numbers of retreat bursaries in the current challenging financial climate. Thank you for your support!

Route Map

The Cause: The APR Bursary Fund

The APR Bursary Fund was established in 2013, to celebrate its centenary; since then, it has supported more than 300 individual retreats.

  • The APR Bursary Fund continues to support 60-70 people in financial hardship to go on retreat at APR member houses every year
  • In the 2023/2024 financial year, a record £10,000 was spent on retreat bursaries
  • In 2024, APR Trustees extended the Scheme to offer no-questions-asked retreat bursaries for teachers, headteachers, teaching assistants and pastoral/welfare support staff in Church of England schools
  • For 2 years during the Covid Pandemic, the APR offered retreat bursaries to NHS staff and healthcare workers, contributing to 240 retreats taken at 28 different member retreat houses. Through the generous donations of our members, as well as using APR Reserves, we were able to spend £21,000 on our NHS Bursary Scheme.
  • Find our more on the Bursary Scheme page of our website

Thank you for your support!