Members of Trowbridge Rugby Club will attempt to raise £5,000 for Help for Heroes this weekend with two epic bike rides.

Up to 300 members from the ages of five upwards will take part in a 1,000-mile sponsored cycle from midday on Saturday to midday on Sunday, hoping to cover the distance on exercise bikes at the club’s ground in Green Lane.

Over the same period of time five club members will be cycling more than 300 miles from Newcastle to the clubhouse, and the money raised from sponsorship will be split between the club itself and the military charity.

Derek Tucker, head of mini rugby at the club, said: “We wanted to try and do something that obviously would raise funds for the club, but we also wanted to raise money for something else and thought since the Wiltshire Times is running this campaign we’d raise money for Help For Heroes.

“We’ve set ourselves a target of £10,000, but even if it’s £2,000 or £3,000 that’s still quite a big sum of money.

“The essence of the 1,000 miles is that it roughly equates to the distance between all the Premier League rugby clubs, with a little bit of poetic licence. Newcastle is the most northerly club in the Premier League, so we made that the target for the ride.

“The idea was to get the whole club involved, and we’ll have committee members all the way to five-year-olds taking part.”

Both rides will kick off at midday on Saturday, and the team cycling from Newcastle hope to arrive at the club just before midday on Sunday, to tie in with the finish of the 1,000-mile ride. There will also be matches and an auction of rugby tickets and two Trek bikes at the club on the Sunday.

Mr Tucker, who is taking part in the cycle from Newcastle, said: “We’re not Lance Armstongs, but we’re all qualified rugby coaches and we’re all moderately fit and used to cycling so we should be able to cope. The weather forecast isn’t brilliant but it’s rugby season weather, which we’ve come to expect.”