I WENT to Slades Farm on Saturday July 13 as I had been recommended Wessex Accessibility Cycling by a friend.

They have accessible bikes that don’t require legs to use them.

Having had 43 ops, many of them on my legs, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

I have to say that I was very, very impressed by Wessex Accessibility, by the bikes and by the fact that after 25 years of missing out on cycling I could do it again.

It bought me such joy to think that I could cycle alongside my son and daughter and go for a morning out like everyone else does.

It was one of the great days in my life that will change my future.

I have decided that I want to do some fundraising for them, plus raise money for Poole/Bournemouth Hospitals and The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital as a way of saying thank you for keeping me going over the past 48 years.

It's payback time I think.

If anyone has an old hand bike that they no longer need or want, I would like to take it on a journey to do some valuable fundraising.

NICK COOMBS, West Quay Road, Poole