Four-year-old bounces his way to West Bay for charity

Arthur Greenshields bounced on his trusty blue space hopper from Bridport down to the coast after being inspired by a conversation about charity with his parents and seeing Olympic diver Tom Daley on his Comic Relief cycle ride through the town.

Arthur, who recently moved with his family from North Allington to Hawkchurch in Devon, made his parents very proud after coming up with the idea and even more so following the completion of his challenge.

After getting off to a tricky start the youngster ploughed on through and completed his challenge.

Mum Emma said: “Arthur was absolutely amazing on the day, he said ‘I found it hard, but I kept going’.

“We had a bit of a tricky start because the storm had blown a tree across the path, so we had to all climb over that, but once he got going he was a champ.

“We are so proud of him.”

Arthur was raising money for St Catherine’s Pre-School and at the time of writing he has received more than double his target in donations at £931; plus an estimated £134 in gift aid.

Originally the family set out to raise £400 and Mrs Greenshields is sure St Catherine’s ‘will make good use of the money’.

Arthur came up with the idea after his parents explained to him what charity was and how many charities had struggled over the pandemic.

His mum and dad explained the work they do and what people do to fundraise for them, which inspired Arthur to start his own challenge.

The four-year-old was further inspired when Tom Daley cycled through Bridport as part of his Comic Relief challenge.

“Arthur is pleased to see how much he has raised already, the money will go to helping with the running costs because the pre-school is a charity," added Mrs Greenshields.

“I just want to add my thanks to everyone that has donated, anything does help.”

To donate or find out more information about Arthur’s challenge visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/arthursbigspacehop