Church Fenton man cycles to Downing St with message for PM

David Nelson, 64, is setting off from his home in Church Fenton today (November 3) on a 1987 touring bike, with stops in Doncaster, Nottingham, Market Harborough, Milton Keynes and St Albans before arriving in Downing Street, London, on Friday, November 8.

David planting olive trees in the West Bank during one of his visits (Image: David Nelson) The self-employed bookkeeper said he has funded visits to Israel and Palestine three times in the last 24 months, twice before the events of October 7, 2023 and most recently in February and he has seen first-hand the victims and destruction caused by the ongoing conflict.

This week would have seen a fourth trip, which he has not been able to make, due to the continuing crisis in the region.

David said: “Nothing seems to change, every morning we wake up to stories of people dying, people being killed, new areas being bombed, or struck from the air and there’s always a civilian element - maybe it’s only a civilian element.

“I don’t think anyone’s on the ground to really know what’s happening in Gaza, sufficiently.

“I think it gets to all of us after a while and it’s all too much.

“I felt that there’s a time where you just have to get up and do something, it’s almost as though doing nothing isn't an option.”

David spent time in the South Hebron hills on one of his visits (Image: David Nelson) David said he asked to meet MPs representing those places where he's spending the night, as well as speaking to other people along the way, before arriving at number 10 on Friday afternoon.

He said: “I hope Keir Starmer will just talk to an ordinary member of the public who is concerned.

“I hope he’ll hear from me that ‘sometimes words are not enough’ because I’m sure they’re discussing stuff behind the scenes, but I don’t see any shift in the position at all.”

David captured this image of the old city of Jerusalem (Image: David Nelson) David’s interest in the area goes back more than 25 years, after leaving a career with Nat West Bank following a chance introduction from a new client to his bookkeeping business.

He said: “One of my first customers when I set up was involved in supporting a village in Israel where Palestinian and Israelis intentionally lived together in the community.

“There’s a school where they speak both languages and kids grow up together and being part of a joint community is very important.

“And it’s a growing, expanding community and as kids get older, then new buildings and infrastructure are needed.

“I was also drawn to a creative human rights charity called Amos Trust – a UK based organisation and they are working in a few areas across the world but one of their areas is injustice within Palestine.”

David has also written articles on the subject for The Baptist Times.

David clocked up a time of 2hrs 40 minutes in the 2023 Palestine half marathon (Image: David Nelson) Of those self-funded tips, David said: “I wanted to understand and feel the level of trauma and upset that so many Israelis are expressing and that we read about, but it is still difficult.

“Those things made me think there is an absolute injustice happening there and that appeals to me to try and make a difference in that area.

“I think every little way of doing things, hopefully adds up in some way.”

With his 1987 Dawes Galaxy touring bike recently serviced and adorned with new panniers, David said he’s confident he’ll complete his journey, despite not having ridden more than 20 miles in one go in the last 30 years.