Pedal power will help boost COPS funds

23 July 2024

A team of cyclists from Dyfed Powys Police will be taking part in this year’s Police Unity Tour (PUT) this weekend.

The PUT is an annual sponsored cycle ride by officers, staff and supporters from forces across England and Wales in honour of those officers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

The funds raised are donated to Care of Police Survivors (COPS), the charity that offers peer support to the families of fallen officers.

The Dyfed Powys Police cyclists are: Sarah Evans, Gareth Evans, Emily Davies, Steve Cockwell, Jonny Griffiths, Huw Davies, Jon Rees, Jon Halliday, Theo Earp, Matt Scrase and Andy Smart.

Remembrance service

This year, Gareth Jones, who retires as chair of Dyfed Powys Police Federation at the end of this month, will be part of the support team providing back-up for the Welsh chapter of the tour.

He will be joined in the Dyfed Powys Police Federation welfare van by the branch assistant secretary Ceris Davies.

Inspector Gareth Earp.

“We will be following the riders as they make their way from Wales, into England and then to the National Memorial Arboretum where COPS will hold a service of remembrance on Sunday,” says Gareth.

“Ahead of the service, all the PUT cyclists who meet up at Drayton Manor near Tamworth on the Saturday afternoon, will ride into the arboretum to be greeted by the families of fallen officers, their own families and those attending the service.

“It is quite moving to see them all arrive and to see what is means to the officers’ families.”

Gareth was inspired to get involved in this year’s PUT after seeing the support COPS offers to families, and particularly to the wife and sons of Dyfed Powys Inspector Gareth Earp who died in a crash as he travelled home from work on the A470 near Rhayader on 29 June 2023.

Rebuilding lives

“I have heard great reports about how COPS helps families rebuild their lives from both Gareth’s wife, Tamsin, and also Laurie Murphy, whose father Roger Meyrick died while in a collision with a lorry on a surveillance course with three other officers in 1990,” he explained.

The Dyfed Powys PUT riders will set off from Aberystwyth on Friday morning, joining the other Welsh riders en route and then making their way over the two days to Tamworth on the Saturday evening.

From there, they will head to the arboretum on the Sunday morning.

Each rider in the tour wears a band inscribed with the name of a fallen officer and, where possible, this is presented to the officer’s family at the end of the ride.

Sponsor the Dyfed Powys PUT cyclists.

READ MORE: World Cup joy for Federation rugby star.