Blood bike volunteers on the road to raise funds
Volunteers from the Shropshire and Staffordshire Blood Bikes have been out and about spreading the message about their lifesaving work.
Blood Bikes, which was founded five years ago, uses specially trained motorcycle couriers to deliver vital medical samples to hospitals and laboratories.
Riders Chris Hyde and Fiona Parry were at Go Outdoors in Shrewsbury at the weekend, showing off the charity's bike Jo, named after Jo Harris. Jo, who suffered from Down's Syndrome, and made the headlines when Big Brother Winner Craig Phillips donated his £70,000 prize fund to an appeal for her to have a life-saving transplant. Sadly, Jo died in 2008 aged 24, and some of the money raised from the appeal was used to buy the charity's first two bikes.
Chris said: "It is important to raise awareness among the public of what we do.
"A lot of people think we are part of the NHS, they don't realise we are a charity and that we have to raise our own funds."
They have also been outside the TSB branch in Telford shopping centre this week. A group of 120 staff from the branch will be climbing Snowdon next month to raise money for a number of charities, including Blood Bikes.
Working with the NHS the charity takes urgent blood supplies, plasma, samples and now even babies’ milk, usually between hospitals.
Volunteers give up their time to go on a 12-hour standby shift rota. All have to be advance motorbike riders and pick up the bikes at the beginning and end of their individual shift.
