Ten members of staff from Carole Nash are to go on the run in a bid to raise money for the company’s nominated charity, North West Blood Bikes Manchester (NWBBM), which will help towards the payment of the motorcycles Carole Nash originally helped to purchase.
A mixed bag in terms of running experience, the ten will take on the Warrington Spire Healthcare English Half-Marathon. “Some of us are perhaps a little more experienced at running marathons than others,” commented organiser Catherine Richards, Management Accounts Team Leader at Carole Nash. “With that in mind this is most definitely not going to be a race. It’s about having some fun, finishing and raising some much-needed funds for an exceptional cause.”
Founded by members of Hyde’s Rising Moon Motorcycle Club, NWBBM is a relatively new charity. It was set up after a bunch of good-hearted bikers were inspired by Honda’s Christmas 2011 advert, which depicted the work of a blood bike volunteer. They decided they themselves would like to volunteer – only to discover there was no blood bikes group in their area.
Undaunted, they set about forming their own charity and in January 2012 NWBBM was registered with the Charity Commission. By July it was operational with two specially-equipped bikes – one donated by Carole Nash and a 4×4 back-up vehicle enabling it to provide free out-of-hours transportation of blood, baby milk, results and other urgent medical supplies to NHS hospitals, clinics and hospices across Great Manchester and into Cheshire.
While many bikers have been quick to support the organisation – it now has over 30 volunteers, including 19 riders – it faces a constant fundraising battle. “It costs around £36,000 every year just to keep the service running, “commented NWBBM trustee Steve Ryder. “We’re naturally very grateful to those who put themselves out on our behalf to raise money, such as Carole Nash’s marathon runners and those throwing themselves down a zipwire across the Manchester Ship Canal in October.
It’s not the first time Carole Nash staff have put their best feet forward in aid of the charity. Last September a group of eight, which included chief executive David Newman, completed Macclesfield’s challenging – it’s quite hilly! – half marathon.
“We’re hoping that with more of us running and the backing of Insidebikes readers we’ll be able to raise more this year,” said Catherine who urged people to make a donation no matter how small.
If you’d like to support the potentially lifesaving work of North West Blood Bikers then you can donate by clicking here. You can also learn more about how NWBBM came to be and the good work it does by reading the charity’s very own Insidebikes blog.
