A North Berwick family is preparing to mark a trio of landmark birthdays by undertaking a charity cycle. . . in Malawi.

The Millar family – husband-and-wife Mike and Helen and son William – are preparing to take part in a cycle of over 300 miles to raise money for palliative care at the Nkhoma Hospital outside Lilongwe, the Malawian capital.

And the summer cycle will mark the parents’ 60th birthdays – Helen celebrated hers last September, with Mike’s is this October – while they are due to depart just two days before their son’s 30th birthday, in July.

Mike told the Courier: “I did a cycle in Malawi in 2009 and I was absolutely knocked out by how nice the people were but also by the poverty they live in.

“My wife did the same ride in 2011 and we thought that it would be a really nice gesture for our combined 150th birthdays to raise money for one of the poorest parts of Malawi.

“I was so inspired by the work that they do that I decided to join the charity and, although I’ve now left, I’m still closely connected.” The journey will see them begin at Lilongwe, and take them to the north of Lake Malawi.

Mike has already begun the training for the summer cycle.

The Keppel Road resident said: “I cycle in and out of Edinburgh two or three times a week and I’ve been trying to persuade my wife to do the same. At the moment our son is still thinking about it, but we will get there.” The family will make the seven-and-a-half-thousand-mile journey via flights to Amsterdam and Nairobi, and will join the rest of their expidition group for nine days. They plan to stay on for “a few days” after the cycle, to show William – who has never visited Malawi before – the sights.

Mike said: “Because of the charity work I’ve done in the past, I’ve taken groups out so I’ve been out there about four times and my wife has been out too, but our son has never been before.

“We’ll be with the others for nine days but then we will spend a few days showing him the sights.” And he praised the efforts of nurses and doctors in Malawi, where AIDS is a huge problem.

“We want to do something to celebrate our lives, and to help some of the poorest people in the world,” he said. “Palliative care, easing the lives of the dying and chronically ill, is something we take for granted here, but it’s virtually unknown [in Malawi].

“It is not a sexy charity, but the work they do is really important.” The family is holding a fundraising jumble sale in St. Andrew Blackadder Church on March 28, and then ‘Mike Millar’s Corney Pastiche’, an evening of music and humour, at the same venue on May 9.