Why I volunteer…
“A friend of mine volunteered for a blood bike group in the South of England and hearing about what he was involved with and the role he played in their group really interested me so I searched to see if there was something similar local to me and I discovered NBB.
I initially signed up as I was undergoing my advanced rider training in September 2024 and officially started riding for NBB in November 2024 after passing my RoSPA test. I have benefited from our NHS services a lot in the past, and it is great to be able to give something back to them by doing something that I love, riding bikes.
The majority of my shifts are undertaken as a rider, however I also attend fundraising events wherever possible and would like to train to be a controller in the near future.
I work Monday-Friday 9-5 in an office based role, so the majority of time that I am able to volunteer is limited to evenings and weekends. I will usually book a riding night shift on a Friday night after my day job and attend fundraising events at the weekends.
I did a fundraising event at a local supermarket and was overwhelmed by the number of people who came up to me to thank us for what we did and had personal stories about how we had been able to help them, it made me feel really proud to think of what we do and how much we have helped people.
The most memorable moment was completing my first solo shift, which was one of the highest mileage shifts I have done still to date, and reflecting on the jobs over the course of the shift as I returned to base that evening, gave me a feeling of pride that I had finally achieved what I had set out to do when starting on my advanced rider training a year or so before.
Volunteering for NBB has been great for giving me a sense of self purpose that I am doing something that I love and helping people through doing it. I’ve also met a lot of amazing people in NBB with shared interests, who I’m incredibly proud to volunteer alongside.
My name is Michael and that’s why I volunteer for Northumbria Blood Bikes.”
To sign up or for more information on our volunteer roles visit: http://www.northumbriabloodbikes.org.uk/support/volunteer
