Supporting local charities – Blood Bikes & the Together Trust

The Bike’N’Hound has always been a big believer in local charities – it’s just a part of the biking community. We’ve had many ‘Hounders meet outside before heading off for a toy run, an egg run, or a Ride to the Wall.

This year, we’re proud to support the Four Corners Challenge, organised by our very own Mark Towler, and helped out in the back-office by Tom, Laura and Toby.

On Saturday 6th June we’re hosting the charity raffle with over £3000 of prizes up for grabs – and all of only £2.00 per ticket. Top of the line jackets, CBT courses, a £200 exhaust silencer system are just some of the prizes. More can be seen on the posters in the pub, but we urge you all to come down and show your support. Details can be seen below – and please share this article – we want as much support as possible for this event, raising money for two fantastic local charities – NW Blood Bikes, and the Together Trust.

Intrepid bikers to cover all four corners of the country in mind and bum-numbing 1400+ miles in 24 hours to raise money for charity.

On 13th June 2015 a team of 8 intrepid, and possibly slightly crazy, bikers are attempting a mind-boggling and backside-numbing feat by travelling to all four corners of the United Kingdom in under 24 hours.

Led by Mark Towler and David Meredith, the group will start in Mark’s home city of Manchester. The 8 riders (5 driving, 3 pillion) will make their way north up to John O’Groats before starting their mammoth task. Their route will take them from John O’Groats (North) to Lowestoft (East), then heading all the way across the country to St. David’s (West) before finally finishing down at the country’s southern-most point, Land’s End. All, in theory, to be completed in under 24 hours.

Including their ride to the starting point and their journey home after the  challenge, they will have clocked up over 2400 miles, at a personal cost of around £600 for each bike – factoring in tune-ups and checks before the ride, plus food and accommodation.

Towler, from Hyde, and Meredith, from Wigan, are no strangers to long-distance endurance rides like this. They completed a similar run last year for their chosen charities – The Together Trust and North West Blood Bikes. Both Towler and Meredith (and Towler’s wife, Claudia, riding pillion) are all members of the Iron Butt Association UK. The other brave souls embarking on this challenge are David Cox & Margaret Derricott, Hayden & Angela Williams, and Kevin Sansom. There is also a small back-room team helping out with organisation and fundraising comprised of Barry-Jon Rooke and Tom & Laura Horsecroft.

The Together Trust has been supported for over 10 years by a group of bikers in the area, spearheaded by Andrew Roughley. Towler attended several of these rallies and events, and wanted to do something extra. A former member of Her Majesty’s forces and now a licensed aircraft engineer, Towler has supported many charities in the past, particularly military ones, and still does on a regular basis, but he adds:
“There are so many people supporting ex-forces and other such charities at the moment, which is absolutely fantastic; but following a visit to the Together Trust last year with Roughleys, meeting the wonderful staff and seeing the great work they do for the children in their care, I wanted to bring my charity work a little closer to home.”

Julie Williams from the Together Trust says:

“The current economic climate means we face increased challenges to secure the funds we need to provide the very best quality of service to the young people we support. The demands on our resources are increasing, so support like this means a great deal to us. Funds raised will help pay for specialist equipment, therapy services, trips and activities for the people supported by the charity”.

Meredith, a stone masonry restorer, is himself a volunteer rider for Northwest Blood Bikes and deeply believes in the work they do…

“I have personally been thanked by a path lab technician for delivering a bloody sample very quickly so they could treat an elderly gentleman who was seriously ill and could NOT be treated until the sample was analysed”. He goes on to add… “We never get to meet the people we help, but every now and then we hear about someone surviving because of what we have done. On one occasion a lady came up to me while I was on duty and said “My husband would not be here today if it were not for you”.

One of the key fundraising events in the lead-up to the ride itself will be taking place at the Bike’N’Hound pub in Hyde – a regular haunt for many bikers in the area – on 6th June. The event will involve live music from Urban Gorilla and a charity raffle with sponsored prizes valued in excess of £3000 – tickets are being sold at £2.00 each.

The riders would like to thank the generous sponsors for helping make this happen: The British Superbike Racing School, Quill Exhausts, Morrisons (Bredbury), Preston Superbikes, Triumph Motorcycle UK and the Bike’N’Hound.

The Together Trust (Registered Charity Number: 209782) provides care, education and support for children and young people with learning and physical disabilities and autism. Services include residential homes, specialist education and a fostering service for hard to place children helping over 1400 individuals each year. http://www.togethertrust.org.uk/

The Northwest Blood Bikes (Charity Registration No. 1147282) is a charity that provides an out of hour’s service to the NHS to transport lifesaving medical supplies to hospitals in their region. Using state of the art emergency motorbikes, their volunteers cover 365 nights of the year as well as offering 24 hour coverage during weekends and bank holidays including Christmas and New Year. http://www.nwbb-lancs.org/

Donations can be made at the team’s Just Giving page: http://www.justgiving.com/teams/4corners

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This post was written by Big & Red