On Sunday March 7th, John Reeves from Knorr-Bemse United Kingdom will run in the Bath Half Marathon. Knorr-Bremse is the world’s leading manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles. Another of its employees, Simon Whitelock, is a Freewheelers volunteer rider. John will be running to raise money for Freewheelers. We wish him well and encourage you all to support him on the day.
You are invited to our 20th Anniversary Party
Sunday, 21 February 2010 16:34
On Saturday April 3rd Freewheelers will celebrate its 20th Anniversary in spectacular fashion with a party at the Oaktree Arena near Highbridge and Burnham-on-Sea, home of the Somerset Rebels speedway team.
Entertainment will be provided by Soulside - a band featuring our very own Andy Maggs, with support from "Better With Two" - a local duo from East Huntspill.
Tickets for the party, which cost a mere £18 plus a small admin charge, can be bought online at http://freewheelers.eventbrite.com/, or by contacting Mike Belch on 07802 797486.
Accommodation
For those wanting to enjoy a drink on the evening, there are a number of hotels available in the surrounding area. All are close by so taxi costs should be low. As a courtesy I have included the Tripadvisor review for each hotel so you know what you are getting! Rates quoted below are the hotel's list price, so feel free haggle for a better rate!
There may also be rooms at B&B's in Burnham-on-Sea, but as it is the Easter weekend, most will insist on a three night booking.
Each year, Neil Mossman, managing director of Total Triumph near Taunton, arranges a charity rideout in memory of his late father. This year 50% of the proceeds were donated to Freewheelers EVS.
We would like to thank the Mossman family and the customers of Total Triumph for their incredibly generous donation of £960.40. Pictured left is the presentation which took place at the Total Triumph showrooms.
Freewheelers EVS is now a member of Attend, a charity currently celebrating its Diamond Jubilee, which is the UK's leading support organisation for volunteers in health care. Among the wide range of support we will receive from Attend, the most significant for us will be Attend's insurance package. To operate, Freewheelers EVS must have employer's liability insurance, public liability insurance, and trustees insurance. Membership of Attend gives us the insurance as a single package at a rate significantly lower than if they were sourced from the commercial sector. The money saved, hundreds of pounds, allows us to spend more on delivering our award-winning service to hospitals in the South West of England.
The Motorcycle Action Group (MAG) is a group that campaigns on behalf of motorcyclists. The Weston & North Somerset branch and the Bristol branch of MAG have been supporters of Freewheelers for much of our nearly 20 years of existence. They have run rallies, held collections and staged bike shows for our benefit, raising much needed funds to help us provide our award-winning service.
This week, MAG released a publicity video, aimed at recruiting new members, which demonstrates the good work that MAG does on behalf of UK motorcyclists. Freewheelers are very happy to promote our long-time friends at MAG. We encourage you to watch the video below and consider joining.
Freewheelers biggest asset is its 60 volunteers. These great women and men are the reason that we won The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2008. Their dedication to riding the bikes, manning the telephones and raising the funds necessary to run the service are the reason we are such a successful charity. To celebrate their achievments and to give you a chance to get to know our volunteers we have a new section on our website - Interviews with Freewheelers Volunteers, starting with an interview with our Bristol-based rider Melanie Rowbottom. Keep an eye on the page as we will be adding new interviews over the coming weeks.
Notaro Care Homes and The Mangled Wurzels raise money for Freewheelers
Saturday, 15 August 2009 17:20
Freewheelers loves The Mangled Wurzels. For those who don't know, they are a premier Scrumpy & Western band who perform a mixture of original material together with cover versions of songs by the late, great Adge Cutler.
Several Freewheelers members were lucky on July 25th to see The Mangled Wurzels perform at a garden party held at Immacolata House, a care home for elderly patients with dementia run by Notaro Care Homes. After the event, which was held to jointly raise funds for Freewheelers and the Alzheimers Society, we received a donation of £1,000 from Notaro Care Homes. We would like to thank Mr Notaro and his excellent staff for their hospitality and their very kind donation.
Freewheelers and H1N1 Swine Flu specimen transport
Wednesday, 17 June 2009 15:44
After seeking confirmation from the Health Protection Agency, Freewheelers EVS is happy to confirm that we are able to transport diagnostic samples which may be infected with, or are to be tested for infection with Swine Flu (H1N1). This includes specimens collected directly from humans or animals that are suspected or confirmed to be infected with the Swine Flu (H1N1) virus, including specimens from the respiratory tract (swabs) and blood specimens. All such specimens will be transported by us according to regulation UN3373 as Category B biological substances. See our UN3373 Policy for details of how this is done.
Freewheelers EVS is not licensed to transport Swine Flu (H1N1) virus cultures i.e. virus isolates. These must be transported by a specialist courier according to regulation UN2814 as Category A infectious substances affecting humans.
Any hospital wishing to use Freewheelers EVS free service to transport any Swine Flu samples should make sure that we are not being asked to carry virus cultures, only diagnostic specimens. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Melksham-based Avon Tyres has agreed to supply motorcycle tyres to the Freewheelers EVS. With both safety and performance so important for such a service, Avon will supply Storm-ST tyres, while JHS Racing at Keynsham will service Freewheelers’ duty bikes as well as fit them with the brand new rubber.
“We do around 80,000 miles a year in total as a charity and we’re doing that all year round, in all weathers,” said Freewheelers’ Mike Belch. “The chief protection we have is that little patch of rubber that keeps the bike in contact with the road and safety and predictability is everything for us. Having good quality tyres we can trust on the bikes is literally the difference between life and death not just for us, but for the people we’re helping. It’s great to have such a high profile supporter as Avon.”
Freewheelers only exists through charitable donations and the support from both Avon Tyres and JHS Racing means that Freewheelers’ donated funds go further in supporting the NHS.
Avon motorsport tyres are supplied to over 140 championships around the world, including the Avon Tyres British GT Championship and the British Formula Ford Championship, as well as series supported by Audi, Ford, Porsche and Honda. Cooper Tire also has a rich motorsport heritage, including the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series and Cooper Tires Atlantic Championship.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd, a subsidiary of the Cooper Tire & Rubber Company of Findlay, Ohio, USA, has more than a century’s experience at the leading edge of tyre technology. Cooper produces a full range of tyres for passenger car and 4x4 applications under the Cooper and Avon brand names, together with Avon motorcycle tyres.
Freewheelers EVS volunteer rider Alan Paice has just completed a sponsored ride from John O'Groats to Lands End on his BMW R1200GS motorcycle. Alan left his home in Wiltshire on Monday and was at John O'Groats ready to start his sponsored ride at 9:30am on Wednesday 22nd April. After a ride of 887 miles over 2 days and 4 hours, Alan arrived at Lands End on Friday at 1:35pm. Following a quick photo shoot Alan rode home, arriving at 8:10pm.
In total Alan covered 1785 miles and raised over £2000 for Freehweelers. And it isn't too late to sponsor him - if you appreciate what Alan did for us then go ahead and make a debit or credit card donation on Alan's MyCharity sponsorship page.
Moose International Weston-super-Mare Lodge 55 and Ladies Circle have just made a donation of £546 to Freewheelers EVS. Lodge Governor Khalid Kattana is pictured presenting the cheque to volunteer riders Mike Belch and Dave Hobbs.
Moose International is a Fraternal Service Club, established in the UK in 1928, but dating back to the late 1800's in the United States. Famous mooses include Henry Ford and Rocky Marciano. Freewheelers is grateful to have been one of the Weston lodge's nominated charities for 2008/2009.
Freewheelers website brought to you courtesy of Memset
Saturday, 18 April 2009 00:00
As a charity staffed entirely by volunteers, Freewheelers is keen to ensure that the absolute minimum is spent on administrative overheads, so that all the donations we receive can be directed to providing our motorcycle transport service. We like to boast that our most significant administrative costs are the postage stamps we use to send our annual return in to the Charity Commission. While slightly tongue in cheek, it is not far from the truth as we really do hate to spend a single penny unnecessarily.
The next stage in the development of Freewheelers' website required an upgrade to our web hosting package. The upgrade costs were significant so our webmaster, Mike Belch, did some research into alternatives. He was delighted to come across Memset Ltd, a British web-hosting company which offers free or discounted web services to registered charities. The sales staff at Memset were very helpful and within one hour their technical team had the new web space up and running. Thanks Memset, we are proud to display your logo on our website!
A press release from Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton has praised the work of Freewheelers. Our volunteer rider Dave Watson, who works as operations manager for Illchester Cheese, was recently asked to transport bone marrow samples from the children's ward at Musgrove Park to the Bristol Royal Children's Hospital. The samples were for leukaemia patient Jacob Hayes. Our riders rarely get to see the human side of our work. It is nice when we can see that our work is directly helping a patient and the thanks we received from Jacob's parents and the staff at Musgrove park are a very welcome morale boost to all our volunteers.
The photo shows from left to right Dr Georgina Selby, Staff Nurse Gemma Stanley, Jacob with his parents and Dave Watson.
This month Weston-super-Mare Homemakers made a donation of £1595 to Freewheelers EVS. Homemakers is an independent club run by a friendly group of ladies, young and not so young, from all walks of life. It prides itself in being a club for ladies who like to meet up, have fun and do their own thing! The club aims:
To provide an opportunity for women to meet on a regular basis; to get to know new people and establish friendships.
To develop as a lively responsible Club whose programmes cover wide aspect of topics.
Each year at the club's January AGM its members nominate the charities they would like to support for the coming year. Freewheelers was Homemakers' adopted charity for 2008 and this incredibly generous donation is the result of their efforts.
Freewheelers loves 
After seeking confirmation from the Health Protection Agency, Freewheelers EVS is happy to confirm that we are able to transport diagnostic samples which may be infected with, or are to be tested for infection with Swine Flu (H1N1). This includes specimens collected directly from humans or animals that are suspected or confirmed to be infected with the Swine Flu (H1N1) virus, including specimens from the respiratory tract (swabs) and blood specimens. All such specimens will be transported by us according to regulation UN3373 as Category B biological substances. See our 
