Northumbria Blood Bikes has welcomed its newest addition to the fleet thanks to the support of customers and colleagues at M&S Arnison Centre Durham. Back in 2018 volunteer Steven Laws had a chance meeting with colleagues about the possibility of holding a door collection. From there colleagues voted to choose the charity of the year for 2018/2019 and NBB came out tops.
We’ve just received the news that the voting period for our Centenary Grant/Fund project, which began on 1 July, has now been extended by a further month, and therefore, our project will now be part of the Tesco instore vote until 30 September 2019.
We're calling out for votes to bag a share of Tesco’s community fund. Northumbria Blood Bikes are bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco #BagsofHelp Centenary Grant initiative.
To celebrate Tesco’s Centenary, the supermarket has teamed up with Groundwork to deliver a special voting round of its community funding scheme which will see grants of £25,000, £15,000 and £10,000 awarded to community projects.
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.
As #VolunteersWeek ends we would like to share a quote from Princess Diana that sums up so much of what our volunteers do: “Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.”
We would like to share our sincerest thanks to all of our volunteers, and of course that extends to their families, as without them we couldn’t #MakeADifference.
“I first became aware of Northumbria Blood Bikes after visiting the Durham Bikewise event in 2017, it did appeal to me, though being in full time employment back then, it was something I felt that I couldn't spare the time for.
“I found out about Northumbria Blood Bikes after I done a search online post discussion with some ex work colleague bikers who are blood bikers in other parts of the UK.
I applied in January 2019, being retired now and willing to support a very useful cause. I am a fairly new volunteer just beginning my role with the charity. I am currently Rider but would also like to become a Driver longer term. I am pretty flexible being retired now so will see how this pans out when I have completed the familiarisation phase and eligible to be put on the rota.
“I first heard of Northumbria Blood Bikes on social media when a call was put out for volunteers. I joined up as a volunteer in August 2018 as a controller, as I was able to help from home, but I have also been helping with fundraising.
I work full time 9 to 5 so I find it easiest to volunteer for the Saturday day or evening shifts. I'll work the week day evening shifts when I have days off from my work so I don't have to worry about getting home in time.
“A friend of mine passed his ROSPA advanced riding test, and on one of our weekly jaunts on our own motorcycles (which always involve a coffee and cake stop!) he told me about this great charity which is made up of volunteers who transport blood, samples, etc. around the hospitals in the North East. I’ve since learned they also supply blood to the Great North Air Ambulance!
Extended Voting 
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. 
