Ready. Set. Go. This is the Wheel Deal gets underway next weekend.

Masterworks Foundation director Tom Butterfield, Jay Nichols and Michael Hamer are about to set off on a 1,000 mile Tour de Grande Bretagne.

They begin their ride in the St. Ives art community and will finish at The Burrell Collection, in Glasgow.

As the Masterworks Foundation celebrates its tenth anniversary, the trio will visit several art museums, galleries and places with art in the park as they cycle around Britain.

They set off on June 11, arrive at London?s Gatwick Airport on June 12 and plan to complete their entire journey by or before June 24.

Mr. Butterfield is ready to ride after being given the all-clear after a recent shoulder surgery. He is looking forward to putting his new body with all his new parts to the test in his fifth ride.

He laughed as he said: ?Last year I missed it because I installed some new hips. And they are stitched up and ready to roll again.

?And amongst the new hips, I have also had spinal fusion. Although, I got the clearance (on my shoulder) the doctor said that he had not seen anything like it for years and he told me ?you need to have a double operation?.?

But if the ride becomes to much or if he finds it too painful, he said: ?I might do ten or 15 miles with these guys, but as long as we get that 1,000 miles ? that is the objective.

?I am not going to be a hero, because there is a museum back here in Bermuda to build and that is a priority to me, but, I think that I?ll be okay - a lot of is up here (in the mind).

?To do a 1,000 miles it takes about two weeks and you have to average about 72 miles per day. You stop and start, this is not the Tour de France ? we are more than triple their age on average and secondly our tires are a lot fatter.?

Mr. Butterfield added that the ride is necessary to continue the work of the Masterworks Foundation, which provides programmes for children, workshops for artists, the Artist in Residence programme, the Artists in the Garden exhibitions, and the continuation of the Bermuda Collection.

?Now all of these things are born out of, not a sense of adventure or of doing something that is extraordinary, but is instead born out of necessity to raise some pretty serious funds for the things we do,? he said.

?Masterworks has no Government funding on a regular or irregular basis or grants. So all of our donations come from membership, corporations, and individuals at home and abroad. Though it goes without saying that the Government has given us a big hand by giving us this location right here. I am not denying that this is a big gift to Bermuda, but in terms of actual funds for the Foundation, our bank account has not been swelled by Government grants of any sort. These kinds of things are the mothers of necessity.?

After making their way to Penzance, on the British South West Coast, they cross a little peninsular to St. Ives, which is an arts community in England.

?We are going from St. Ives across England to the east and then zigzagging up to Scotland to the Burrell Collection,? he said. ?The idea is that at the end of each day we will send back some photos for posting on the web and a little story or blurb that has happened each day.

?We want to make some connections to the efforts of what we are doing here in the Botanical Gardens and to that of other collections and or museums or art in the park places that exist.

?I can?t think of all the stops where we are going to, but Chatsworth House, which is called the National Gallery of the North, The Lost Gardens of Heligan, the new Eden Project, in Bodelva, Cornwall. I am also trying to take in some of literary Britain: Max Gate, is the Victorian villa, which Thomas Hardy designed and built for himself in 1885.

?Of course, London is stuffed with a lot of places, so while I am there I will take some extra shots. Originally I was going to go to (George Bernard) Shaw?s home, which is north of London, but the route now takes us further south.?

A Glaswegian friend of theirs is trying to get the Lord Provost of Glasgow to come to the Burrell Collection for a photo op.

?The Burrell Collection is really important for us because Glasgow is now considered one of the great cultural cities of Europe,? he said. ?And the collection helped transform a city from a slum to a pretty thriving place ? a place where people want to live and not flee, which was happening in the late 60s and 70s as the industries dried up there was nothing but decay.

?It has some relevance to what we are doing. Our ambition here, and I think that what we can do here in the Botanical Gardens is a real renaissance for not just the arts, but for Bermuda. We can turn this into a cultural destination ? the environment and the grounds lend themselves to it. The rest is up to us.?

The good news about this fundraising event when compared to other charity drives is that just about every cent is put to good use. ?In many cases you have to spend on average between $0.25 to $0.30 so then $0.70 goes to the operation,? said Mr. Butterfield. ?But with a bike ride we literally spend pennies so $0.98 goes to the organisation.

?So when making the rounds for the fundraising event, some people wanted their donation to go children?s programmes, or education, some understand it needs to go to administration, and others wanted it to go to the continuation of the collection. So, we spread the money around all of that.

?You know it is something that has proven to be relatively successful, and some have jokingly said that if I shave my head they will give me an extra $0.50 a mile and others have said that if I drink a Guinness a day they would give me an extra $0.50 per mile. But the Guinness would go straight to my knees and during the actual event ? you want water.?

Masterworks curator Elise Outerbridge said getting sponsorship has been easier this year than in the past.

?It is a whole coming together this time because other years when Tom has done the cycle ride it has been a little bit more of a struggle,? she said. ?But for some reason because of the location here or because the whole philosophy of what we are doing is crystallised in the community now. ?The fact that Tom, Michael and Jay have done so many of these rides before ? I am not saying it is an easy sell ? but it is not something that you have to spend a lot of time explaining.?

Mr. Butterfield added that it was a one time commitment. ?That is why we don?t do it every year,? he said.

Glad for travel companions, Mr. Butterfield said: ?Sometimes, you think ?I want to talk to somebody!?. So a little camaraderie is great. This is actually Michael Hamer?s third ride although he has never completed it and this is Jay?s second ride and he has never done the full ride.

?Both of them enjoyed it so much, but they both have pretty busy lives because of the business that they?re in, so a two week frame is a big commitment.

?It is also nice for me to have company it really is. The first time that I did the ride, it was me by myself and Jill providing the support.?

He calls riding for a fortnight ?a working holiday?.

?That is kind of what it is,? he said. ?I am not someone who enjoys spending endless hours on a beach, but I see myself as more a participant than spectator to things. That is just the nature of the beast.?

His aim is to one day take a student with him for the journey.

?One year, as in a big brother kind of thing, I would love to do is to get permission from the school to take a Bermudian out to do a tandem or something like that - a kind of school outside of the formal structure,? Mr. Butterfield said. ?But you know I can do it in July or August, but the roads get crazy with tourists. I think that would have an appeal to take kids outside the Bermuda reef line.?

The philosophy of the Foundation?s campaign is for people to pledge whatever they can afford.

?People can pledge $0.01 a mile to whatever a mile,? said Mr. Butterfield. ?This is the beauty of the thing. It was a level that we could get people involved in it. So, when people say I am happy at this amount ? it is where people are comfortable.

?This has been our philosophy on our campaign and we have never pushed people into the corner and said, ?I think you are worth half a million as a first time donation?. Whatever you are comfortable with and we will be right there with you. We have raised quite a lot of money that way.?

He will be lying his head in a mixture of comfortable places, said Mr. Butterfield.

?We are mixing it up,? he said, ?There are still some old fashioned pubs with bedrooms up above, there are one or two that are up-market and others that are run of the mill, but there is one thing that we are not doing: I am middle aged and I am not pitching a tent!?

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