Five cyclists who rode more than 130 miles in 10 hours between lifeboat stations in the south west raised a huge sum for the RNLI in memory of a much-loved friend.

Matthew Payne organised the 131-mile sponsored ride from Lyme Regis to Newquay, Cornwall earlier this year in memory of his best friend, former Woodroffe School student Adam Bounds, who died last year aged 41 of a brain haemorrhage.

Matthew, Rob Gage, Andrew ‘Edder’ Gage, Alan Cockram and Dan Galloway set out from Lyme Regis at 5am on May 26 and arrived in Newquay 10 hours and 34 minutes later.

They had hoped to raise £1,000 – but reached the grand total of more than £3,000, and presented a cheque for £3,061 to the volunteers of the RNLI in Lyme Regis last weekend.

Matthew said: “Adam loved life and Lyme Regis and particularly Lifeboat Week. Another favourite place for us to visit was Newquay which is why we chose these locations which we enjoyed so much with Adam.”

Lyme Regis Lifeboat Station said a further donation of £473 was raised for the charity by another of Adam’s friends, Jack Price, owner of the Railway Kitchen café at Axminster railway station. Adam was a Michael Jackson fan so Jack organised a disco at Axminster Football Club to raise the donation.

Jack said: “Adam was the life and soul of the party and a very big Michael Jackson fan. But he also loved Lifeboat Week and the RNLI. He would camp in Uplyme and walk into Lyme Regis ever day of Lifeboat Week.”

An inquest heard that Adam died in hospital on May 31 last year following a severe and rare reaction to a Covid jab which he had received 11 days previously.

He lived in Bristol although his family home was in Axminster where he grew up and he had returned there for a visit when he fell ill.

He sadly died from a severe brain bleed in Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.