About Riding With Olivia

Riding with Olivia is the Lower Hutt chapter of the global Cycling Without Age charity and was established for the principal reason of providing a living and dynamic memorial to Olivia Marchant.

Olivia was a much-beloved nurse in Lower Hutt for 24 years and worked at several medical facilities including Te Omanga Hospice, Lower Hutt After Hours Medical Centre and Muritai Health Centre. She sometimes worked at two or more places on the same day!

She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer during the first week of Covid lockdown in March 2020 and bravely endured nearly two years of chemotherapy and surgery before her death in January 2022.

Olivia loved cycling and was extremely generous. She loved sending little outfits to parents of newborn babies and had the uncanny ability to remember everybody’s names and birthdays.

On many occasions, she would pick up old friends from various Age Care Facilities and drive them to a nearby beach or park for a little walk and ice cream or coffee.

Olivia was also a very keen horsewoman, having owned and ridden her beloved horse, Minstrel at many Gymkhana events during her teenage years in Sussex, UK. She loved helping at Riding for the Disabled during her years in Taupo and the Hutt Valley.

Cycling Without Age was seen as the perfect vehicle to keep the memory of Olivia alive in Lower Hutt, and hence Riding with Olivia was born. It took about six months of dedicated work to establish this Charitable Trust, purchase our first Trishaw and prepare for giving our first scheduled ride in April 2023

Read more about the Cycling Without Age movement, which began in Denmark in 2012.