A NIGHT of cycling, curry and a charity raffle helped a cycling club raise more than £4,500 for Helen & Douglas House hospice.

The event was held at The Chequers in Headington Quarry, Oxford, which donated the space for free. It saw fundraisers tucking into a BBQ banquet and curry from on-site restaurant Aziz.

The evening started with Cowley Road Condors cycling club's president Cheryl Reid showing a video from the hospice, and explaining why its work was so important.

She said: "A few of us were invited to come and look around the hospice and it was such an incredible experience. It was a lot more vibrant and positive than we were expecting.

"Many club members have children so it is easy to empathise with the situation families find themselves in."

Fundraising has become more important than ever before for the Magdalen Road hospice, which recently made 12 staff members redundant to help cope with a dive in donations and to prepare the charity for tough times ahead.

Ms Reid said: "The money we raised is like a drop in the ocean, but hopefully we are helping to raise awareness."

After the video, club members got down to business with cyclists queuing up to test their mettle by generating peddle-powered electricity in a Watt Bike challenge, which was supplied and run by David Brown from Aspiring Performance. Philip Ross produced the biggest power output for the men, and Eleanor Law took the crown for the ladies.

The raffle saw more than £3,000 of prizes up for grabs, including a £2,000 Beeline bike which was donated by Greenoaks Construction and won by Pete Fry.

The event, held on September 9, raised £4,635, beating the previous year's figure of £4,000.

The Cowley Road Condors, which now has more than 150 members, was founded in 2011 with the goal of being an inclusive group that encouraged more women to take up cycling.

For more information about the club visit cowleyroadcondors.cc