Fund-raising cyclists ready for Police Unity Tour

15 August 2022

Steve Butler, secretary of West Mercia Police Federation, at the start of the 2021 Police Unity Tour.

A team of riders from West Mercia Police are counting down to this year’s Police Unity Tour cycle challenge which gets underway on Friday morning (19 August).

The annual event is now a major highlight on the policing calendar and has raised more than £1 million for the Care Of Police Survivors (COPS) charity since the first UK ride back in 2013.

The ride has traditionally been held over the last weekend in July but because of the policing commitments to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham the 2022 event takes place this weekend.

The West Mercia riders will set off from Hindlip Hall and cover around 200 miles over the following three days. They will each be wearing a coloured wristband dedicated to a fallen colleague throughout the ride.

The bulk of the ride is completed over the Friday and Saturday with a shorter final leg to the National Memorial Arboretum on the Sunday morning.

As usual, the ride will finish at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire, on Sunday when PUT teams from across England and Wales join together at the COPS memorial service attended by fallen officers’ families, chief officers, Police Federation officials and other policing partners.

It will be the fourth time West Mercia Police Federation secretary Steve Butler has taken part and he and his team mates have already made a great start to their fund-raising effort.

West Mercia Police Federation, the branch Group Insurance Scheme and West Mercia Police Welfare Fund have each donated £500 for all the West Mercia riders taking part.

People can pledge a donation to the West Mercia team via Steve’s JustGiving page.