Over £200,000 from sponsors

Hameed Abid

Hameed Abid's Photo

Short Biography

Hameed arrived in the UK from Iraq in 1962. He was awarded a diploma in architecture in 1971 and became a chartered architect in 1975. He has worked on projects all over the world and is listed in the Who's Who in Architecture.

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We collect money literally by being in the High Street in Ham with a tin, and we get--, we get that organised and we go every year. So my wife and I literally go up and down the High Street in Ham and collect money, then send it to the organiser's house and the committee there for counting it; that's every year non-stop.

We also organise what's called a bikeathon which is a marathon but in bicycles, from Ham Common; Ham Common we just passed across, I show you and that goes back to Battersea Park and then goes on to centre of London. It--, it's made that…I mean I'm one of the groundsmen, so co-ordinate the cyclists and being whatever they give me a task, we spend a whole day. We've got one coming up on July seventeenth.

We started off with, you know, small number, 300, 400, 500 cyclists and we organised them here in--, in Ham Common every year and we--, we raise money; I think last year was over 200,000 pounds from sponsors.

It's a very exciting day and everybody enjoys it. It's not a competition but a lot of cyclists come in; children, old people, family groupings, friends etcetera. It's a wonderful day and we raise money for charity, for the Leukaemia Research. Well the Leukaemia Research is all the leukaemias, you know, all the cancer, different brands of it. This is--, is a charity which is sponsored by, well supported by a lot of people including Gary Lineker, and every year we've been fortunate is that Trevor MacDonald the well known broadcaster, Sir Trevor MacDonald, comes in and cuts the tape and sends them off every year.