Graham.

Graham Homes used to ride motorbikes in his younger days, even transporting his tool box to and from work in a sidecar whilst he was a car mechanic. He took a 30-something year break from motorcycling during which time he and his wife Trinette had two sons and, amongst many other things, he worked his way up from mechanic to Managing Director in the same company. When one of his dealerships started selling motorcycles he got the bug again, and after riding a 125cc Moto-Roma Virage for a short time he upgraded to his BMW R80RT.

Graham's BMW R80RT in Ireland

As well as enjoying riding on day trips, Graham enjoyed a number of motorcycle tours with friends and family including to Wales, Top Down which raised £2,300 for MacMillan Cancer Support in Lincolnshire and Boston Salvation Army, and to the Republic of Ireland. Graham loved his R80RT, and despite buying an R1100RT later in addition, the R80 was his favoured machine. There had been talk for a couple of years of a tour to France, but unfortunately it was not to be.

Riding at the Hartside Summit, 2010

Graham found himself retired earlier than he expected in his 50s, not through his own choice. However, it proved to be very fortunate that he did, not least because it meant some of the touring was possible, and he soon came to quite enjoy it. Graham was diagnosed with stage IV kidney cancer in 2012 that had already spread to his lungs and spine – something neither he nor his family had ever expected. Graham passed away only a few months later, aged 61.

Riding in the Lakes, 2010

Graham Victor Homes, 1950-2012. Husband, father, Salvationist, motorcyclist, and greatly missed by his family and friends every single day.

Announcing the Graham Homes Memorial Ride

The Graham Homes Memorial Ride will be 2,000+ miles of Great British roads over a week at the end of May 2013, raising money for two cancer charities. It will be our biking tribute to Graham, recreating something of our John O’Groats to Land’s End trip in 2009, while hopefully making a difference to someone else (and their family) by fundraising. 

Graham on his BMW R80RT

The challenge will be to ride our motorcycles to the extreme north, east, south and west points of Great Britain. We have chosen to go clockwise, and so the points in order will be:

  • Easternmost – Lowestoft Ness, Suffolk, England
  • Southernmost – Lizard Point, Cornwall, England
  • Westernmost – Corrachadh Mòr, Ardnamurchan Point, Scotland
  • Northernmost – Dunnet Head, also known as Easter Head, Caithness, Highland, Scotland

We haven’t planned the exact route quite yet but the idea is not to use motorways too much, although they will almost certainly be necessary at times.

This ride should have been with Graham. But in his honour we are going to raise money for two important charities – Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support. There will be six of us taking part, all friends or family of Graham, on five bikes. The trip will be self-funded – all your donations will go towards supporting our two chosen charities, and we hope to be able to give them a very healthy amount.

Having a break on Glen Coe during our Top Down Trip

We have set up a fundraising page using Virgin Money Giving, and that is the easiest way to make donations to our chosen charities. Virgin are a not-for-profit fundraising site, and they distribute the money at source (including any Gift Aid) so Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support benefit directly from your donation. If you would prefer to donate in a different way please get in touch with us.

Make a donation using Virgin Money Giving

Over the next few months, as we plan and then carry out our ride, we will be using this blog so you can follow our story. There will be updates, photographs, profiles and information. Please do subscribe by email (on the right) or add us to your reader.