Dave Mcnicholl, chief executive of Warrington Youth Club, looks at an impressive effort in his latest column

GLOBAL drinks company Nichols plc, developers of Vimto, have for the past five years been supporting thousands of disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people from across Warrington, through their support of Warrington Youth Club.

The company has shown incredible support and commitment by running a wide range of events raising almost £500k for Warrington Youth Club.

Their team have undertaken the three peaks challenge, ran the Manchester 10k, completed the Tough Mudder event and undertaken the Snowdonia four peaks challenge.

Along with an annual gala dinner and golf day which have been run in aid of the charity they have also had a group of men from the company conquer the heights of Kilimanjaro.

The following year an all-female team from the company, led by Marnie Millard, CEO, also made the summit of Kilimanjaro, raising enough funding to buy two new minibuses for the charity.

Established in 1908, Vimto is celebrating its 110th birthday this year and to mark the event the inspirational staff team were keen to use this milestone to offer further support to local children and young people.

On Sunday, 115 cyclists comprising of staff from the company and corporate partners who tackled a route of 110 kilometres across the Cheshire countryside starting and finishing in the picturesque village of Great Budworth.

Alongside these adult cyclists, we were really keen to ensure that the motto of Warrington Youth Club was brought to life, Inspiring Young People to Achieve. As such we encouraged one of our members, Matthew Brennan, to take part in the bike ride.

Matthew, who is 16 and attends Green Lane College at the Woolston Learning Village, has been a member of Warrington Youth Club for the past four years and has benefited from the support of a peer befriender through our Buddy Up programme. Matthew has Down’s Syndrome and is partially sighted.

He struggles with balance and until May this year had never been on a bicycle.

With the support of staff from Warrington Youth Club and our board members including our chairman Mark Brocklehurst and Matthews’ family he has been practising cycling each day and has now managed to reach over 50 miles a day.

Matthew and Mark lead the pack on Sunday on a tandem bike proving that the support of the staff from Vimto is not only changing lives but saving lives.