A FAMILY who pedalled from Lands End to John O'Groats have helped keep an Age Concern minibus on the road in the New Forest.

Former BT engineer Tim Fletcher, 50, undertook the bike ride in September to raise funds for Cancer Research and the minibus appeal at the Age Concern day centre in Ringwood where his mother-in-law Edith Fryer, is a client.

Tim's sons Matthew, 26, Mark, 23, and James, 19, also got on their bikes for the cause and they were joined by mum Sally, a community nurse, Matthew's wife Anne and Mark's girlfriend Hannah Watson, who acted as the support crew.

The team covered between 90 and 150 miles per day on the two-week odyssey in September - with energy en route provided by a constant supply of jelly babies!

"It was an instant sugar fix," explained Tim, who has been a life-long cycling enthusiast.

And Tim and Sally popped into the day centre housed in the Bickerley Green rest home to present a cheque for £2,000 to manager Mercy Turner.