Raising funds through film

Charlie Sinclair came up with the idea to use the 'Bikes vs Cars' film to raise funds for the charity after reading about the documentary and the tragic death of Michael Mason in CTC’s weekly e-newsletter Cycle Clips.

The money raised will give a boost to the appeal to raise funds to carry out a private prosecution of the driver that hit Michael in February 2014.

CDF took up the Mason family’s case after the Metropolitan Police decided not to press charges against the driver involved despite there being sufficient evidence to prosecute.

The charity, which relies heavily on donations from supporters, has to raise a minimum of £30,000 to prosecute the driver using a private law firm. All donations, whether large or small, are hugely valued as they take the charity ever closer to this target.  

“The response was amazing, with fivers and tenners being thrown at me. I hope other people do the same, it’s not difficult."

Charlie Sinclair

Charlie asked everyone who came to see the film to give a donation and said he would match fund donations to the amount in his wallet (£85). He found that running a fundraising activity was much easier than he expected and wanted to stress that it could be done by anyone.

Charlie said: “The response was amazing, with fivers and tenners being thrown at me. I hope other people do the same, it’s not difficult. If someone put the film on in a decent sized city (there are only 80,000 people in Shrewsbury), a lot of money could be raised.”

CDF is truly grateful to all the people who attended the screening and gave so generously.

About the Cyclists’ Defence Fund

The Cyclists’ Defence Fund was set up by CTC in 2001 to support legal cases involving cycling and cyclists and to raise awareness of the law as it relates to cycling. The charity provides information and advice to cyclists and welcomes requests for assistance with cases ranging from: police failure to investigate collisions; to contentious authority decisions to change transport infrastructure; to wrong charges for offences such as careless or dangerous cycling.  

For more information about the charity, please visit www.cyclistsdefencefund.org.uk