We are delighted to welcome two brand new bikes to our fleet. We have purchased two BMW F800 GTs with the grants we received from the Bags of Help voting, that took place last year, from Tesco Consett Genesis and Tesco Hexham Extra. 

These bikes are smaller than previous models we have had in our fleet. The larger touring bikes that we usually use limit the diversity of volunteers who can ride for us due to their weight and height. We hope that these additions will enable a wider variety of people who can join our operational team. The bikes will have specific bases so volunteers will always know if they are available for use. We welcome people who may have previously been put off from volunteering to ride for us to now reconsider with these bikes as an option to use on shift.

The bike purchased with the funds from Tesco Consett Genesis has been named ‘Genesis’. The meaning of ‘genesis’ is defined as ‘development’, ‘evolution’ and ‘inception’ which we think is apt considering it is a new chapter in our fleet’s formation.

The bike purchased with the funds from Tesco Hexham has a slightly different name of ‘Diddy’ which is the nickname of the stores’ gold service superstar. We would have loved it to have been named ‘Hexham’ but we actually have a scheduled job run, to Hexham General Hospital, and is known amongst volunteers as the ‘Hexham’ bike so would have caused slight confusion during shifts. 

We would like to thank all of the customers and the store colleagues for their support with the voting which has enabled us to buy these new bikes. Funding to support our charity is greatly appreciated and these bikes will be put into operational use helping our volunteers continue to make a difference to the lives of those in the North East of England.