Parents and staff at Chorleywood Primary School underwent a gruelling 60 mile cycle from London to Oxford to raise money for the school and a homeless charity.

A team of 28 cyclists from the school are closing in on their £5,000 fundraising target for the ride - of which 20 per cent will be donated to St Mungo’s Help the Homeless.

The 22 parents, two teachers and four ex-parents

One of the riders, Mark Bettridge, of Bucks Hill, said: "It was great but very challenging because of the heat.

"It is probably one of the best things we have ever done at the school, there was such camaraderie that everybody was willing to stop and help if one of the riders had a problem.

"We have been training as a group on Saturday mornings, this has brought different parents together which in turn creates a stronger community for the school.

"For the first 30 miles it was relatively flat then we came to the Chiltern Hills, we had guys who had only done 15 mile rides before but they all came through on the day.

"We all completed it, it took between four and six-and-a-half hours."

Several of the cyclists and representatives from the charity will go into school on Monday (July 15) to give an assembly and show pictures from the ride.

A statement posted on St Mungo’s website said: "Congratulations to all of our cyclists who recently took part in this challenge - you did really well and we are very proud of the whole team.

"It was a brilliant day and we hope you enjoyed it. We are counting up funds raised so far and will have an update for you soon."

People can still sponsor the group by visiting BTMYDonate: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/chorleywoodprimaryschoolcycle/98227