After suffering a serious injury during her time in service, Tracey was forced to leave the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). Along with her son Luke and their furry friend Chewbacca, they embarked on a bike ride to raise money for the Naval Children’s Charity.
Tracey served the WRNS for several years. Unfortunately, during her time in service she suffered a serious neck injury, which left her with limited neck movement and severe headaches. After leaving active service, she joined SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity, as a caseworker.
Her son, Luke, now aged 23, is autistic. He loved getting out in the fresh air, so we funded a special trike so he could go out on long bike rides with their dutiful dog Chewbacca.
While they couldn’t take the trike to a galaxy far, far away, they could embark on a special bike ride.
In 2016 Tracey, Luke, Chewie and Elsa (Luke’s nickname for his trike), set off on a charity ride from Plymouth to Portsmouth. Prior to their 180 mile journey, they raised £2882 to be split between the Naval Children’s Charity and SSAFA.
Breaking their journey up into 20 miles stints, they completed the excursion in just over a week, raising awareness for the cause as well as valuable funds for both charities. They were featured in the local press, and kept a Facebook diary of their exploits.
Since their first voyage, they’ve kept up their spirit of adventure, with trike rides through France, as well as a race to Scotland by train, coach and car.
These intrepid explorers are a testament to the sheer force of will that we see in our community. We wouldn’t bet against them taking on even greater challenges, and one day they might just find themselves blowing up the Death Star!
