STAFF from salons in Worcester and Hereford are taking part in a gruelling charity bike ride.

Ian and Naomi Beswick, owners of the Avant Garde salons in the two towns, are being joined by 11 of their salon staff to raise money for Bloodwise, a charity which funds research into blood cancer.

Mr Beswick, 35, along with staff member Alex Willitts, tackled the 500km cycle from London to Paris in 2018 without having experience of riding road bikes before, successfully stepping up to the challenge.

After the success of the cycle last year, many of Avant Garde salon’s team members will join Mr. and Mrs. Beswick this year to raise donations for the chosen charity Bloodwise.

Mr. Beswick and the salon members hope for as many people get behind them as possible, to raise as much money as possible for the cause, with 12 women and one man taking on the major challenge to cycle 310 miles from London to Paris.

All members of staff are amateur cyclists, with little to no experience of cycling that distance - with four members of the Hereford salon taking part, as well as seven members from the Worcester salons,13 riders in total including owners Mr. and Mrs. Beswick.

The owner himself planning to cycle 100 miles in London on the 4th of August as part of training, whilst other members of staff training regularly to prepare for the four-day event.

Mr Beswick said: “I can’t recall such dedication to support a great charity from a small local company.

“We are all having to train from no experience to being strong enough to tackle long steep hills and eight-plus hours in the saddle for four days in a row.”

The fully self-funded event will take place on September 19 with all donations going to Bloodwise.

Bloodwise was chosen for the event as it is close to Mr Beswick’s heart, after a friend and fellow salon owner was diagnosed with blood cancer.