Hello, my name is Paul, I am 51, married with a grown up son and I am a Blood Biker.

At the turn of last year we received  our monthly caravan club magazine. On the front it said try something new for 2015. Inside were lots of suggestions to visit and do things many of which perhaps because of age,we had already done.Towards the back was a piece with a picture of a blood bike.In the article it explained how a long standing club member who was a volunteer rider had unfortunately passed away but in his memory the club had raised a significant sum for the charity.This caught my eye and I recalled an appeal for volunteer riders in our local newspaper.After a bit of digging on the internet I soon came across Northumbria Blood Bikes website.I was surprised to learn the major part of the service is during the night and as it is free it has grown very popular in a short time.

Not everyone is keen about riding in the dark, but in the early hours apart from wildlife, the road is often your own. The process of joining was straightforward, plenty of guidance and support was given. Why this charity? Well our family have always donated blood and plasma, everyone knows the strain our health service is under but not everyone realizes we and our loved ones are all potential customers... We make a difference by providing an out of hours courier service across the North East all year round.I  am lucky in that when I started, a blood bike was allocated to an ambulance station in the town where I live. I ride my bike there, can park securely and be back home with the blood bike in 30 minutes.

I believe our charity has grown to be respected by health professionals for the service we deliver but due to this success we now need more volunteers. We need riders and drivers, we need fundraisers and dispatchers to be able to operate properly.

We need you.

Make a difference.