Henley residents Bill and Matt turned heads and delighted shoppers in the riverside town as they enjoyed a gentle post-Christmas spin on their bikes.
Bill Pollard and Matt Richardson regularly cycle together in the borough – on their penny farthings.
Bill said: “We first started riding the bikes a year ago when Matt was recovering from cancer.
“He was told by his doctors that he wouldn’t be able to continue bike riding, and that he needed to take things easy.”
So, obeying the spirit of his doctor’s advice – but not the letter – Matt bought a penny farthing bicycle.
Two weeks later Bill bought one too, and a cycling adventure began.
“We planned a cycle trip to Paris in June this year, and raised about £20,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support, which had been such a great help to Matt,” Bill said.
“It was a lovely experience.”
Following their big wheeled French road trip, Bill and Matt thought they would stop the penny farthing habit.
“But now we find ourselves addicted,” he said.
“Seeing riders on a penny farthing isn’t what people are used to, and so many of them seem to love it.
“We really enjoy dressing up to look the part, too.
“Everyone smiles and waves; white van drivers, Range Rover drivers, children – even teenagers think we’re ‘sick’ – we just love riding the bikes around.”
Friends since they met at university aged 19, Matt and Bill, now approaching 60, are already planning their next adventure.
“We have a secret madcap scheme in mind that will be even harder and more flamboyant than the Paris trip,” said Matt.
Matt and Bill’s Macmillan fundraising donation page is still open for anyone wishing to support them.
For information, visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/penny2paris, Henley to Paris by Penny Farthing Facebook page, and
