NORTHUMBRIA BLOOD BIKES
June 2019 - Please feel free to print, copy, save or forward this newsletter to increase awareness of our charity!
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
With thanks to “The Good News Choir” for selecting Northumbria Blood Bikes as the recipient of their £313 “Love Donation” collected at the end of yesterday’s gospel music concert
Ellington Ladies Club Talk
Northumberland Day
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Anchor Hanover, Brambles Court Retirement Home Talk
Bishop Auckland Fire Station open day raised ÂŁ102.99
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
We were invited to attend the Morpeth Mayor Making. The newly elected Mayor or Morpeth, Alison Byard - Mayor of Morpeth, made the tremendous announcement that she has chosen Northumbria Blood Bikes as the charity she will be support whilst in office. Not only has she already put plans in place on how she will supporting our charity she is already part of our #BloodBikesGNR team 2019; along with her running buddies Claire Lancaster and Lesley Athey. We are looking forward to working alongside Alison and are wishing her the best of luck during her time as Mayor.
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
NBB volunteer John Watts enjoyed an evening at Stannington WI on 2nd April, particularly meeting up with some former police colleagues, some of whom he hadn’t seen since retiring over 7 years ago. After delivering a talk on NBB he was invited to perform a surprise duty, to judge their monthly competition where members had been asked to bring and exhibit something Blood Red. After close inspection of an eclectic array of items he double checked the date to ensure he wasn’t to become an unsuspecting “April Fool” and then selected a bright red brassiere rather ingeniously adorned with a blood donor lapel pin as the first place. Nothing prepared him for the dramatic manner in which the President announced the winner. John selected a beautiful fresh flower display which included a red decorative heart in 2nd place and 3rd place to a vintage blood donor 50 lapel pin in a its original box. The entertaining evening also resulted in NBB coffers benefiting over £150 and several expressions of Providing interesteffective in becoming NBB controllers. and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Thank you to WI secretary Sue Wilson and the ladies of Stannington WI.
A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported Northumbria Blood Bikes by using #easyfundraising last month. Together, we have raised ÂŁ833.94 - and we can keep this going! Help us to raise EVEN MORE in June by using easyfundraising EVERY time you shop online. Over 3,600 different retailers will give us FREE donations at NO COST to you!
Uniformed Services Day, Durham City Centre, was a slightly damp Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products event this year but our volunteers were still full of smiles! Registered Charity Number 1166689
Well done to Richard Charlton in the TT at the Isle of Man. As a friend of one of our volunteers he proudly displayed our logo on his front fairing.
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Romaldkirk WI Talk
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Above: Northumbria Egg Run cheque presentation, at Woodhorn Museum, where Infidels MCC handed over ÂŁ691. Thank you to everyone who made a donation and to the club for organising the event.
Left: Durham Egg Run cheque presentation of ÂŁ500. Thank you to the Tony and his team for Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products another great year. Registered Charity Number 1166689
A couple of weeks ago we shared the disappointing news that one of our volunteers had his personal kit stolen whilst on shift volunteering. Thank you to all the companies and individuals who offered to donate replacement equipment. We were overwhelmed by the support shown and the kind offers of donations. Our volunteer has now had all of his equipment replaced, thanks to the generosity of the good folk out there, which has enabled him to get back to volunteering straight away. Those that donated equipment did not do it for publicity but we think it’s only right to publicly thank them for their support. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Mark Handy of Mo-Tech for donating a helmet, Kyle Gowland of KRG Motorcycles for donating a Bluetooth unit and to Carl Doogan of CD Squared - Motorcycle Clothing and Accessories shop for donating gloves. Best wishes to you all from us at NBB!
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Tesco Sunderland Extra (Right)
Tesco Newton Aycliffe Extra (Left)
Tesco Newton Aycliffe Extra (Right)
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Why I volunteer… “I joined the charity right at the beginning, in fact at the very first meeting to discuss how we can form Northumbria Blood Bikes and bring it to fruition. I am a Rider, Driver and Fundraiser. I enjoy whichever part I’m involved with such as engaging with the staff at the hospitals and the general public at various events. NBB fits in very well with my life as there’s so much flexibility with it I can offer my services as and when needed to fit in without any impact on my day to day life. There’s a lot of good things I’ve experienced since joining not only the enjoyment of riding bikes, as I’ve ridden bikes since the age of 16, but knowing and feeling that I’m contributing to help the NHS in what they do helping people in need. I’m also proud of the fact that we now have Ambulance station bases, which along with Gary Annan; we instigated the development and use of these bases. This has been a tremendous improvement for our service and the members, as before this we all had to changeover at each other’s home’s at a greater cost to both NBB and the volunteers. I’ve had lots of memorable moments with NBB not only as a rider but whilst out on fundraising events. One especially I remember is being approached by a Dad with his young son, aged about 7 years old, he explained that his son was in the RVI and needed a lot of blood whilst the doctors were fighting to save his life. He said that NBB were ferrying back and forth from the Blood transplant unit to the RVI. That was a great and proud feeling seeing him there with his now healthy young lad. I enjoy being part of a team doing what we do as a charity helping others. What I would say to anyone thinking of joining is stop thinking, do it. Join in, be part of this great group, there are plenty of members willing to help and advice. My name is Alan Dalgarno and that’s why I volunteer for Northumbria Blood Bikes.”
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
1477 miles and they’re finished Benidorm or BUST "The great escape". The car never missed a beat but the crew were a bit worse for it. A huge well done and congratulations! Many thanks to Croxdale Fast-Fit who got the car ready for its journey and really supported Steven and Sam throughout their challenge. We are always looking at new ways to support our work and making it easier for people to support us financially. We are embracing new technology in the form of these new devices. They are contactless donation terminals. We expect that they will be present at many of our forthcoming events, and at static points in the region. If you see one, feel free to try out the technology, and help out our charity at the same time. Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Looks like our volunteers had at Prudhoe Town Fair but we don’t think our friends at 4x4 North East have any worries of us borrowing ‘Elizabeth’ for shifts (right). Many thanks to the Rotary Club who supported us by donating the money they raised on the day to NBB.
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
(Above): M&S Arnison Centre raised £1539.62 plus £33 on the contactless machine. This brings our collections in the store up to £7943 in the past year of being their charity of the year. It is always a lovely welcome from the staff and customers in this store.
(Below): M&S Kingston Park raised £452 plus £20 on the contactless machine. The team even managed to find some new fundraising recruits (although they were a bit quiet compared to our team).
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Here’s a lovely group of listeners of John Watt’s talk held at Beamish Hall Hotel. The Freemasons were very pleased to see Blood Bike ‘Durham Mason’ and the Masonic Lodge that meets there gave us £50 as a thanks for our attendance.
Many thanks to everyone who took part in this year’s #360Challenge. We are extremely pleased to announce that the grand total raised through the event was £6,909.94. An incredible amount of sponsorship was raised again this year by participants and each year we award an ‘Elite Award’ patch to the entrant who raised the most in sponsorship. We have just informed this year’s recipient, who just happens to be one of our own volunteers, so congratulations go to Mick Redpath! Thank you to everyone that supported the 360 Challenge 2019! Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
Thank you Bryan Winn for supporting and sponsoring Alison Byard - Mayor of Morpeth’s fundraising video.
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689St Mary’s MU Ponteland
Talk
We are bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help Centenary Grant initiative. To celebrate Tesco’s Centenary, the supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork to deliver a special voting round of its community funding scheme which will see grants of £25,000, £15,000 and £10,000 awarded to community projects. Three groups in each Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant. Northumbria Blood Bikes is one of the groups on the shortlist for all of the North East of England stores. For help to purchase a blood car for transporting essential blood, urgent medical supplies and samples which contributes to saving or improving people's quality of life. Kirsty Lawrence, Publicity Officer for Northumbria Blood Bikes, said: “During times of bad weather, such as the winter months, and for larger quantities of blood transportation we need to use cars to complete the deliveries. Without also having cars available to use on operational shifts we would be limited on the quantity we can transport. You never know when we could have the ride, or in this case drive, of your life so please support our charity with your votes.” Voting is open in all Tesco stores in July-August 2019 and customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop. Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already provided over £75 million to more than 25,000 projects across Britain. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding. Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689
FUTURE EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY: Lots of things happening, and we need your help to support them! If you can help, even if only for a couple of hours, please contact us‌.information is at the bottom of this page. NBB members can register their attendance for most of these events on our website (login required).
June Saturday
29
th
June Sunday
30
th
June
09:00-17:00 Armed Forces Weekend Seaburn Recreational Ground
Saturday
29
th
July
June Sunday
30
th
10:00-15:00 Darlington Celebrate Services Day Darlington Market Place
Saturday
6th
July
July
Sunday
Saturday
7th
10:00-15:00 PCVO Superhero Event Locomotion Shildon
10:00-16:00 Hilda Park FC Newfield Durham
13th
12:00-17:00 High Spen Village Picnic
Induction & Controller Workshop 0900-1230 & 1300-1600 Clarian Hotel Bolden
We have a few last minute places available for the #GreatNorthRun. If you would like to run world's biggest half marathon as part of #TeamBloodBikes then please submit your details on our website. Entries for the Great North Run close on 1st July. https://www.northumbriabloodbikes.org.uk/ GNR
www.northumbriabloodbikes.org.uk facebook.com/northumbriabloodbikes twitter.com/northumbriabb linkedin.com/company/2866951
FUNDRAISING HOTLINE:
0191 364 3113 or events@northumbriabloodbikes.org.uk
- for any opportunities to increase our funding through sponsorship, locations for collecting tins, supermarket events etc‌
Providing effective and timely transportation of essential blood and medical products Registered Charity Number 1166689