WYCFOMBE Wanderers chairman Beeks will at last be leading a team out to Europe but this time they will be riding bikes.

The Rotary Club of High Wycombe will be taking to the roads of France on May 28 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. They will cycle 420 miles to St Andre de Cubzac, near Bordeaux, by June 1.

Geoff Rysdale, Rotary club president, said: "We are twinned with a Rotary club in France. It's a bit of a long way.

"We will go from Wycombe to Portsmouth which is 90 miles, and go approximately 85 miles in the next four days. We have all started training.

"We have all cycled before but we have not done this sort of distance.

"People have been superb. It has absolutely amazed us."

There will be a team of five cyclists, including Paul Fulford, Derek Slade, Michael Dods, Geoff Crane, and two of the members, Charles Miller and Mr Beeks, will go on ahead in a back-up van to prepare refreshments.

The team aim to raise more than £5,500.

They want to buy a vital signs monitor which monitors a patient's oxygen, blood pressure and pulse.

It is used in intensive care units, operating theatres and recovery units at the children's hospital.

To sponsor the team call Geoff Rysdale on 01296 615109