We are raising money for Severn Freewheelers, a group of advanced motorcyclists providing a free out-of-hours courier service for hospitals in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, North Wiltshire and Herefordshire. They perform a vital service by carrying whole blood, pathology samples, patient scans / x-rays and any medical essentials between hospitals in our local area and beyond. These dedicated volunteers work from 7pm in the evening to 7am the following day, all day at weekends and public holidays.

Hardware Group will be fundraising through events and activities during 2017 with the aim of raising £16,500 to purchase a new motorcycle for this invaluable service.

Across the country in 2015, volunteer blood bike groups received 39,000 requests from hospitals to transport blood, samples or tests for analysis. Using a fleet of specially adapted emergency response motorcycles they assist the local Health Authorities by providing fast, safe and efficient transport between hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and private addresses throughout the region.

Volunteers include Hardware Group’s Mike Southby who has been a member of Severn Freewheelers since last year. “The Severn Freewheelers provides an extremely valuable service for our local community. It costs in the region of £65,000 every year to keep our service running so we are always looking at ways to raise our profile and visibility in order to not only fund raise, but also to recruit new volunteers. Our specialised and adapted police bikes require servicing every few months owing to the miles we cover, costing a lot of money. Whilst we are fortunate enough to have annual donations from individuals, clubs, groups and trusts, we are always looking to encourage local businesses to help us in any small way they can. It's our tenth year anniversary this year and we have already ‘consumed’ over twenty bikes since we started, covering over 1.2 million miles; an achievement we are all very proud of”.