RESIDENTS of a Newton Abbot care home have been participating in a virtual ‘cycle-athon’ in a bid to raise money for a breast cancer awareness charity with a helping hand from the town’s mayor.

On Monday, August 22, the Mayor of Newton Abbot, Cllr Carol Bunday, was invited to Southlands Residential Care Home to pedal the first few miles of the 191 mile journey from Cardiff Castle in Wales back to the care home on Coombeshead Road.

The virtual journey, which spanned as many as eight days and arrived back at Southlands on Wednesday, August 31, raised money for ‘Coppafeel’, a charity focusing on promoting early detection of breast cancer by encouraging women under 30 to regularly check their breasts.

Southlands residents are aiming to raise this money in order to help a close friend and former carer at Southlands, Lois Harris, who herself is aiming to raise £2750 for Coppafeel by undertaking a 100km trek across the Sahara Desert.