Retired Belmont Grosvenor School teaching legend Mrs Gillian Furniss sets off this weekend on an epic 1,000 mile bike ride to raise money for three charities – just weeks after returning from meeting the Queen at the Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.
In honour of Mrs Furniss’ 43 years of teaching at Harrogate independent prep school Belmont Grosvenor, she was invited down to London to attend the first Royal Garden Party of the season in the grounds of the Palace.
Attending with daughter Holly, Mrs Furniss enjoyed an afternoon sipping tea and eating sandwiches and cake in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, and spoke with both HRH The Queen and HRH The Princess Royal.
“Attending the Royal Garden Party was such an amazing experience, a real experience of a lifetime and I was very honoured to have been invited,” said Mrs Furniss, who taught at BGS for more than four decades before retiring last summer.
“The Queen asked me if I was enjoying my retirement and that I deserved it after 43 years of teaching – I was so amazed she was talking to me. I told her I was doing a bike ride!” she said.
And that ‘bike ride’ starts this weekend when Mrs Furniss sets off to cycle 1,000 miles from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise money for three charities close to her heart – Capture, Blood Cancer UK and Active Against Cancer.
Mrs Furniss’ longest day in the saddle will be when she cycles 78 miles, and her shortest day is 37 miles – she has been busy training on her Belmont Grosvenor School retirement present, an electric bike.
“I’ve done the Coast to Coast ride which is just 215 miles and I cycled 100k on a tour of Belgium but this is the furthest I’ve ever cycled. I am excited but I also have a little bit of trepidation. But I’m doing the ride with an organised group so there is a support system in place,” she said.
Headteacher at Belmont Grosvenor School, Mrs Sian de Gracia, said the entire school was behind Mrs Furniss’ charity cycling adventure – and wished her well with the challenge.
Anyone wanting to support Mrs Furniss on her adventure, follow the link:
