Three men and a tent all started a few years ago when Nick, Marc and Dan decided it would be a really good idea to see how far they could cycle in a day, camp for the night and then cycle home. It turned out to be quite a long way and not only that but they enjoyed it….a lot! Three men and a Tent was born and they have been off having amazing adventures ever since.
In 2016 Nick, Marc and Dan cycled from Land’s End to John O’Groats and in 2017 from London to Monte Carlo! Now they guys are back and ready for a final challenge…..In May 2019 they head off from London to Rome. That’s around 1,300 miles in just over 2 weeks!
To date, Nick, Marc and Dan have raised an incredible £7,000 for Winston’s Wish and are hoping to hit their £10,000 target with this final challenge. Nick has a very personal reason why raising money for Winston’s Wish is so important to the team, Nick says –
‘On 25 April 1980 my parents, Janet and Paul White, lost their lives in a plane crash on Tenerife. It was their first ever holiday away alone since they were married. I was 12 and my younger brothers, Andrew and Neil were 9 and 5.
Whilst the bare facts are simply that, the facts, and can be easily shared, the actual act of losing mum and dad, the gap that is left behind and the long term emotional impact is something that to this day I still find very difficult to talk about. If I’m honest, I still don’t fully understand it either. Even after all this time, I’m never quite sure how I am going to react when asked about them and certainly the idea of trying to write down how I feel about it and publish on the internet for others to see……well lets just say it is not my area of comfort.
I know I spent many years refusing to even acknowledge the possibility, let own accept it as a fact, that the loss of my parents has in any way shaped who I am and, to this day, I still bristle at the word “orphan”. It is a very complicated, confusing set of emotions and thoughts which are of course totally anchored in that loss and they underpin both good, and probably less good, aspects of who I am. I have also learnt that whilst grief and the impact of loss never disappears it does change over time and that both consciously and subconsciously I have built my life around that grief so that it has become more manageable.
Despite everything I do consider myself to be incredibly fortunate in that my life is full if love, light, fun, and friendships and whilst of course I would wish my parents were here with me now, I am lucky in so many ways.
Winston’s Wish is really important to me personally and to Marc and Dan who have been just amazingly supportive of my desire to help them. We are so proud that through our endeavours and your kindness we are able to make a real difference to bereaved children. It genuinely and truly means the absolute world to all three us.’
If you would like to follow their story and see how they get on, please visit the Three Men and A Tent website https://www.threemenandatent.com/