At just past midnight on the morning of Friday March 4th, I had a call from the coordinator asking me to do an urgent job that had just been requested. So began a cold and crisp starlit ride to Swindon to take delivery of a blood sample to be taken to the new National Blood Service in North Bristol. That new facility provides blood processing and testing from across Birmingham and the South West and their specialist analytical capabilities are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, when the services of hospital based pathology laboratories cannot meet the patient’s need – just as in this case.

I arrived at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon to meet another volunteer, this time a rider from Oxford, Bucks and Northampton SERV who had carried the blood sample from the start point of its rapid two wheeled journey. I packed the sample on The Flying Crane according to the strict requirements of the National Blood Service – the National Blood Service requires us to comply with both UK and European laws when carrying samples like this that may be a biohazard.  This means that the blood sample had to be in a watertight leakproof receptacle containing the specimen, and then that it is placed in a second durable, watertight, leak-proof packaging to enclose and protect the primary receptacle. We meet that by placing the sample in its leakproof receptacle in specially marked ‘bio-jars’, or in special-purpose large sealable plastic bags we carry for items that will not fit in those jars. Even then the packing job was not finished as a bio-jar or special sealable bag has then to be carried in rigid outer packaging. This is where the panniers on The Flying Crane come into their own, as they do exactly that job.

So packing done, I was on my way back west riding as quickly as the law allowed. I got to the National Blood Service at just past 2 in the morning and handed over the sample for urgent processing. I got home at quarter to three having ridden nearly 100 miles on that run. As with most such jobs, I did not know exactly why the analysis was needed in such a hurry, but I do know that we did our bit to help a patient in real need, and that the Flying Crane played its part to the full.