The Tandem riders:
Louise Nolan – ex-beauty therapist and part-time deaf awareness trainer. She’s the captain, up front and providing the glamour.  She has also done previous cycle challenges in Vietnam and Egypt so well able to cope with the warmer temperatures down south.

Robert (Bob) Nolan – over the hill marathon runner who plays space invaders at Shell for a living and is chairman of Deafblind Scotland.  Likes to strum a guitar and sing to deaf audiences, especially if the 
doors are locked first. Has been promoted to bike stoker ... reputedly!   

Fellow cyclists:
Martin (Phyllis) Willis – our man from the Pru, ex GB deaf footballer and a good friend from when we started school together before the war … well 1969 actually! Does an excellent bbq about once a year, but only when everyone is watching!

Abigail Willis – part-time communicator-guide, close friend of Louise since starting at the same dating agency … sorry school … that we boys went to.  Cycle veteran from challenges in Mexico, Vietnam and Egypt, the latter 2 with Louise.  She also mixes a mean pernod and lemonade sundowner ... sometimes with lemonade!

The Support Team:
Drena O'Malley (MBE) - long time Chief Executive of Deafblind Scotland and now Resources Manager. She built up DBS from a 2 days a week support service in Glasgow in 1989, to the national charity we have now.  Her energy and commitment to deafblind folk in Scotland is all but total, and as well as being a good friend, Drena will hopefully organise the lunches.

Hamilton (Hammie) O'Malley – also works tirelessly for DBS, whether providing and maintaining the offices, supporting members out on marathons, bike rides and supporting DBS dances and so on.  He is also proprietor of ‘Bikewise’, a property developer, a runner and all round good guy.  Hammie’s job is to get our bikes to John o’Groats ... hopefully with us on board!

Tandem Party Organisers:
Exeter
Jon and Sally Brown (couple of years below me at school) and David and Sally Robinson (in the year above me at school) – see what I mean about the Mary Hare dating agency! David (ex-Mary Hare) and Jacqui Shepherd (astonishingly enough, not ex-MH) are also organising what should be a humdinger of a party!

Bristol
Debbie Rutherford and Colin+Jo Stubbings – Debbie and Colin are longstanding friends from the year below at school.  Both chose to marry partners who didn’t experience life at Mary Hare, Paul and Jo respectively, and both are reputedly the wiser for it.

Pershore near Worcester
Paul (Mouse) and Mandy Mouzer – close friends from our schooldays who spend almost as much time in southern Italy as they do at home these days.  Hopefully they’ll be in on June 4th.

Warburton near Altrincham
Alison Cookson - another school friend who grew up very near to me in Cheshire and whose farm supplies Gary Lineker’s well known brand of crisps, amongst other things.

The Tandem:
DBS have 3 tandems for members to go out with guide communicators though usually it is Hammie who is roped in to be the front man. Tandems are typically setup for a larger rider in front and 2 of them were actually too big for Louise.  The 3rd, a smaller mountain tandem (a Barracuda if you’re interested) did fit the bill, and Hammie measured us up on a summer visit to ‘Bikewise’ in Kirkintilloch near Glasgow. His expert consultation, distilling decades of working with all kinds of bikes, resulted in one saddle being moved lower and closer to the handlebars (Louise's) and the other being moved up and away (mine) and I think he cleaned it too!

Blog Consultants:
Richard (the Baron) Cole - Great friend and fellow member of the Usher's club, now also bravely battling MND. Very experienced hillwalker ... but prefers to read and talk about hillwalking to actually climbing them. Supervised complete overhaul of the blog ... literally without raising a finger!

Jane Cole - Long suffering wife of the above and game for anything.  Fortunately, a very close friend for many years and the one who actually revised the blog, whilst the author and aforementioned supervisor were doing their usual!

Marketing and PR:
Douglas O'Malley - intrepid traveller who has recently completed a career break 'round the world' trip. Glad to have him working as the DBS events coordinator for a time and apart from working the press and organising the Glasgow homecoming party, is chasing accomodation for the trip.

Caroline Greenhalgh - works for the govt Disability Policy Review as well as looking after my 2 nieces and running the Greenhalgh country estate in Sussex! She stepped in to publicise and attract sponsorship for the tandem challenge in England and has done great so far. Caroline, Scott and more recently Saskia and Isobel, are also very generous supporters of DBS.