Blood bike charity's new vehicle named in honour of generous £40K donor
A Shrewsbury man's bequest of almost £40,000 has helped to buy a new blood bike to be used in the county.
More than 40 members of lifesaving charity Shropshire Staffordshire Cheshire Blood Bikes (SSCBB) gathered to unveil their latest piece of equipment.
They met at the Ma Baker's Biker Cafe, at Prees, where they officially revealed the new blood bike.
The bike was funded by a legacy of nearly £40,000 from Shrewsbury man Michael Sproat.
In keeping with the charity's habit of naming bikes in recognition of a person or company, SSCBB named the new Moto Guzzi 'Christian'.
A spokesman for the group said that although they knew very little about Mr Sproat, they did know he was a devout Christian – hence the choice of name, with a great fondness for motor bikes even though he never owned one himself.
Close friends of Mr Sproat joined the 'unveiling', including Peter, who worked with Mr Sproat and his wife Sylvia, Elisa, who used to take Mr Sproat out on her trike, and Barry, a member of the Christian Motorcyclists Association.
Vice chair of the blood bike charity, Lynne Stone, expressed gratitude for the generous legacy and said the new bike would be located in Shropshire.
The charity is one of 36 blood bikes groups in the UK which all deliver urgent blood, platelets, samples, surgical instruments, human donor milk and many other clinical products, free of charge to NHS hospitals.
SSCBB was set up in 2014 and covering the three counties of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire.
In 2021 the charity's bikes travelled 296,889 miles and completed 5,663 jobs.
