Homes in Sedgemoor, which manages 4,200 houses on behalf of Sedgemoor District Council, has given Freewheelers the free use of a garage in Highbridge. Located close to junction 22 of the M5 motorway, the garage is the ideal base to support our operations. It will be used to house our spare bike, which is called on whenever our duty bikes need to go in for service or repair. It will also provide a local base in Somerset for storing the specialist boxes we will be using to transport frozen breast milk from the new milk bank at Southmead Hospital.

Each year Hutton Short Mat Bowls Club holds a Charity Bowls event and this year the nominated charity was Freewheelers EVS.

The event was held on Sunday 12 September, with 16 teams (divided into 2 groups) with each team playing 4 games.    The winners of each group played in the final.  For the second year running the final was closely contested by Skewen, from South Wales and Winterbourne, with Skewen eventually winning 14 – 7.  This was the reverse of the result from last year.

The Charity event is well supported by the short mat bowling community and the event has already been booked for next year.

Prior to the charity event, three of the members of Hutton Short Mat Bowls Club,  Frank Paige, Mike Turnbull and Bryan Ennis did a charity climb of Ben Nevis with sponsorship going to the Freewheelers.  The climb took 4¼ hours to get to the top and 4 hours to come down.  Not a bad achievement considering their combined age is 203, between them they managed to raise in excess of £300 in sponsorship and in total the Club raised a total of £1,400.

Freewheelers and the club would like to thank all of the teams who took part, the Ladies of the Club for providing endless cups of tea, bacon butties and lunch for almost 70 people and anybody else who contributed in any way to the event.

Photographs of the handover event and the Ben Nevis climb can be seen in the Freewheelers gallery.

Freewheelers EVS is happy to support the Precious Drops Campaign, which is raising funds to establish a breast milk bank at Southmead Hospital. Babies in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) across the region will be fed breast milk expressed by donor mothers. This breast milk is frozen at home, transported to the breast milk bank for testing and pasteurisation before storage prior distribution as and when it is needed. Freewheelers will be providing that distribution service, collecting milk from donors who are unable to get to Southmead themselves, and delivering breast milk from the breast milk bank to NICU's across the region.

The video below shows a visit by Freewheelers volunteers to the NICU at Southmead, where Steve Haberfield who is raising funds for the United Kingdom Association for Milk Banking (UKAMB) stopped off during his marathon cycle ride from John O'Groats to Lands End. There are also a number of pictures of the meeting in our photo gallery.

Local motorcycle training company Ridesafe is offering to train new Freewheelers volunteers to an advanced standard at a substantially reduced rate.

Paul at Ridesafe has been increasingly frustrated at not been able to give blood for many years having had Glandular Fever himself. This thankfully is cleared now that the NHS has removed Glandular Fever from the list of "at risk" donors. Frustration is increased however, in that despite having been a donor for several years, his wife Sonia is now barred having had to have transfusions after child birth. So Paul and Sonia's idea - probably the next best thing - is to help get it there!

Although unable to commit to regular shifts due to family and business commitments, Paul at Ridesafe has joined Freewheelers EVS. Whilst able to carry out occasional runs from the off-duty list, Paul's primary objective is in helping with the all important Rider Training, both for prospective and existing riders.

Ridesafe has undertaken to help in training new volunteers through to their RoADAR (RoSPA) test at a substantially reduced rate. All existing volunteers have to take three-yearly assessment checks; why not take the opportunity to take it a step further and go for RoSPA Gold? Existing volunteers will get their refresh training free of charge. Paul will arrange initial assessments with each rider as and when needed, putting in place training sessions as required, dependent on current riding levels and practice available. Existing riders please contact Paul directly, otherwise Paul will make initial contact as and when individual assessments fall due. New or prospective members should firstly contact us by using the contact form.

Existing Freewheelers volunteer John Cooper took a refresher course with Paul to keep his riding skills up to date. John had this to say about his day with Paul "I have just taken advantage of the offer of free training for Freewheelers members with Paul at Ridesafe and I have to say I was delighted at the depth and duration of the session. I was expecting an hour or so of riding with a summary of points to work on for improvement, after all this was a free offer from a training business. What actually unfolded was a full day of rides of increasing length, interspersed with discussion and analysis over coffee and lunch breaks. Make no mistake, Paul is offering serious, intensive training with the benefit of the insight of a professional, full time motorcycle instructor. He was able to zero in on the issues that I had and help me develop my technique over the course of the day to the point where he judged me and Keith, my fellow student, to be ready to apply for the RoSPA test. Paul is making a very significant and valuable contribution to Freewheelers in offering this training and I sincerely urge riders to take up the offer. (It is also good fun, as Paul has a dry and entertaining sense of humour.)"

Freewheelers Volunteers presented Roger Vaughan and Chris Bowden from Brean Golf Club with a certificate of thanks and a laser-engraved glass award. Roger was the Club Captain in 2009 and Chris was the Lady Captain. Roger and Chris made Freewheelers their charity of the year and held a number of fundraising events throughout 2009. At the end of the year they handed over a Honda ST1300 motorcycle to Freewheelers, which cost nearly £7,000 and has been in use on the Somerset patch ever since. We would like to thank Roger, Chris and the members of Brean Golf Club for their kindness and hard work.

On July 1st, the pupils of All Hallows Preparatory School in Somerset presented a new BMW R1200RT blood bike to Freewheelers. The bike was paid for by a number of fundraising activities at the school, including a sponsored cycle ride from John O'Groats to Lands End undertaken by two parents – Mike Burns and Andrew Jolliffe. The total raised by the school was close to £14,000.

A competition was held for the pupils to name the bike. The winning name was "The Flying Crane", reflecting the school's crane logo. It will now be displayed proudly on the bike for all to see. The competition winner removed the covers to unveil the bike and handed over the keys to the grateful Freewheelers volunteers.

The Flying Crane immediately went on duty in the Bath area. During the coming months, Freewheelers will provide the school's pupils with a log of the bike's activities so that they can track how many times it has been used, where it has been, how far it has travelled and what sort of cargoes it has carried. There will also be a "spot the blood bike" competition. Pupils who see The Flying Crane on duty will be able to submit details of when and where they saw it and, subject to verification, will win a prize from Freewheelers.

More photographs of the presentation ceremony can bee seen in our photo gallery.

On May 4th, Mike Burns and Andrew Jolliffe left John O'Groats to cycle to Lands End raising money for Freewheelers as they rode. They arrived on Saturday May 22nd after 1,200 hard miles having raised an incredible £8,900 including Gift Aid. The money will go towards a new BMW R1200RT blood bike which the pair hope to present to Freewheelers in July.

You can read more about the trip on their blog, and donate money to boost their total even further at their JustGiving page.

All the volunteers at Freewheelers would like to thank Mike and Andrew for their outstanding effort. Well done!

Freewheelers volunteer Joanne Wingate has joined NG Road Racing and is launching her motorcycle racing career later this month on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend at Pembrey. Joanne will be racing in the Streetstocks 700-1300cc and Newcomers classes, and must attend ten meetings at three different circuits, finishing in every race. If Joanne achieves this she will get her Clubman licence - the first step towards her ultimate aim of reaching the Isle of Man TT before she is sixty.

Joanne's bike is a Yamaha R1, fitted with Metzler Race Tec tyres and uprated suspension. Otherwise it is a standard production bike. The bike has Freewheelers' logo on the side and Joanne will be publicising our work at each race meeting she attends.

More photos of Joanne and her bike can be seen in the CVAM SmugMug galleries. You can also track her progress at CVAM's forum.

As always, Freewheelers volunteers are on duty 24 hours a day during the weekend and bank holidays. So for a continuous period of 108 hours, from 7:00pm on Thursday April 1st until 7:00am on Tuesday, our riders and coordinators were on permanent call.

During that 108 hour period our volunteers took a record breaking 64 calls, including one emergency which necessitated the use of blue lights and sirens. At the start of the 1990s when Freewheelers was just beginning, we didn't get that many calls in a whole year! Our thanks go to the duty riders and coordinators for giving up a holiday weekend to deliver such a valuable service.

On May 4th, Mike Burns and Andrew Jolliffe began a 20 day cycle ride from John o'Groats to Lands End. Their aim is to raise £10,000 to buy a new bike for Freewheelers.

To see their planned route look at bloodbikes.co.uk, to follow their progress during the ride, read their blog at bloodbikes.wordpress.com

To sponsor Mike or Andrew go to their dedicated JustGiving page at justgiving.com/bloodbikes JustGiving will allow you to donate using credit/debit card, or PayPal. They will also reclaim Gift Aid on your behalf to boost the value of your donation.

UPDATE: Mike & Andrew have finished their ride and have raised £6,914 — just over £8,000 when Gift Aid is included. However, it isn't too late to give as the fundraising page is still open for your donations.

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.

UPDATE: John raised £378 for Freewheelers. Click the article on the right to read more about John's run. Thanks John!

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.

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 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.

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 22^nd 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.

See photos of Alan's trip in our Smugmug photo galleries.

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.

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.

On August 23^rd & 24^th Freewheelers will hold its Annual Charity Bike Show on The Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare. Like everyone else we were devasted to see the fire on July 28^th and we feared that it might put an end to our bike show, which had already been booked. The very nice people at Sanders Garden World^® stepped in to offer an alternative, but in the end we were much relieved to hear from the pier management that the bike show would go ahead.

Grand Pier owners Kerry and Michelle Michael are great supporters of Freewheelers, so we are delighted to have the opportunity bring visitors onto the re-opened pier. Please come along on the August Bank Holiday weekend to see a fine collection of motorcycles. If you own an old or interesting motorcycle, or are a member of a bike club that would like to exhibit, please don't hesitate to get in touch through our contact page.

Freewheelers has been given the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service. The award, which is the highest accolade that can be given to a voluntary group, is equivalent to an MBE. It is awarded every year on June 2nd, the anniversary of the Queen's Coronation, to recognise groups of individuals who are giving their time freely for the benefit of others.

Freewheelers members past and present are thrilled to receive the award. We are especially pleased to receive so much positive publicity as a result, including interviews on BBC Points West and BBC Somerset, as well as articles in the Bristol Evening Post, Wiltshire Times and the BBC News website. See our Press Cuttings page for other newspaper articles relating to the award.

Freewheelers will be presented with a certificate signed by The Queen and a commemorative piece of crystal. Four members of the charity have been invited to attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace. In addition we have the right to display the unsung heroes logo (pictured right) on our website and all of our stationery.

Bristol-based community radio station BCfm has just broadcast an article about Freewheelers. It features BCfm reporter John Barker interviewing Freewheelers chairman John Graves, treasurer Ian Pruce and rider Mike Belch. The six minute long article covers our work and our efforts to raise an extra £20,000 this year to replace our ageing fleet of motorcycles.

Listen to the article. (MP3 format, 5.5MB)

Mike Cummin, one of the founding members of Freewheelers' service in Bath, died suddenly on January 8^th. We would like to extend our deepest sympathy to his wife Viv and their two daughters.

Mike's funeral took place on Friday January 18^th at Weston Methodist Church in Bath and was attended by a number of Freewheelers members, including three of our operational bikes.

We Freewheelers EVS members have a big grin on our faces thanks to SmugMug. Our photo galleries have always been one of the most popular sections on our website, but the previous freeware software that we used for hosting the images was buggy and insecure. So SmugMug have come to our rescue by donating their professional digital photo gallery service to Freewheelers enabling us to host all of our precious images.

Freewheelers photo galleries, are now hosted on SmugMug. They contain all the same images as before but are better organised, quicker to access and provide some really slick features such as slide shows.

Feel free to browse through the gallery and leave comments or rate the photos that you see. In particular, if you like the SmugMug service then give it a go. You can sign up for a 14 day free trial with no obligation whatsoever. After 14 days you can get their basic service, with secure unlimited storage and lightning fast bandwidth for just US$39.95 per year - that's less than £20 at current exchange rates.

With fuel prices close to £1 per litre mean that it is even more important to keep raising money. Our service costs around £16,000 per year just to operate the bikes. We then need to raise even more money to replace one of our four bikes each year. Our service is provided free of charge to the NHS, so we depend entirely on donations from the public and local business.

A selection of photographs take of our collection can be seen in the Freewheelers gallery.

Freewheelers EVS is featured in the August issue of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure magazine, one of the UK's leading bike magazines.

The five page article (1.4Mb), part of the magazine's regular "A Day In The Life" series, looks at the work done by Freewheelers volunteers. It begins in dramatic style:"Imagine the unimaginable, the unpalatable, but the ever possible. You've been out on your bike, sideswiped by a car, and wound up in a hospital bed. You need an operation that may require specialist x-rays or scans, or maybe a pint or two of blood. Perhaps the surgeon's saw will need a nice new sharp blade. We all know by now the pressure the NHS is under, and don't think that they'll send an ambulance just for your titanium leg screws, so who's going to bring this stuff to help you if it's needed by the medical staff, and needed quickly, at times urgently, and out of normal hours? The angels with dirty faces that serve a huge area of Somerset, north Somerset, Bristol, Bath and west Wiltshire are the Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service, and it's they who are called upon and relied upon, by NHS medical staff, to collect and deliver these vital supplies." ©2007 Adam Bolton, Motorcycle Sport & Leisure

The article contrasts our work with volunteering to making cakes for the village fete, describing what we do as "extreme volunteering". It also has interviews with Freewheelers volunteers and has a number of pictures taken in the grounds of Frenchay Hospital. Some notable quotes from our volunteers include:

• "Some days I'll get in from work at 6:50pm having just flown in from Scotland, the wife hands me a pint of orange juice and lemonade that I'll stick down my neck, then I'm out of the door again by 7pm on an emergency call" - volunteer rider Mark Douglas describing the difficulty of balancing a full day's work with riding for Freewheelers in the evening.
• "How urgent?" "Well let's put it this way" came the reply, "we've got him on the operating table with his head open, and we want to know what to do next" - a reply from a hospital to one of our co-ordinators when asked about the urgency of a call.

We would like to thank reporter Adam Bolton and Motorcycle Sport & Leisure Magazine, the article is great publicity for us and for other blood bike groups around the country. Be sure to go out and buy a copy today. Better still take out a subscription to this excellent magazine!

In April and June, Freewheelers exhibited at The Mall at Cribbs Causeway.

On both occasions we had one of our bikes on show in the shopping centre. For safety reasons the bike had its fuel tank drained and its battery disconnected. The bike proved a big draw and many children had their photograph taken on the bike. Most were happy to pay for the photograph, but the two characters pictured on the right told us our puny little planet would be destroyed if we didn't let them have a go on the bike. We also held a tombola and a collection.

In total we raised £1,175. We would like to thank the public for their generosity, and the management of The Mall for inviting us to exhibit. We look forward to repeat visits next year.

An article published in The Bath Chronicle on May 14^th tells how staff at the Royal United Hospital saved the life of Freewheelers volunteer rider Mike Cummin. In February Mike collapsed outside Bath Sports and Leisure Centre and was rushed to the RUH for life saving heart surgery. Just eight days after receiving his revolutionary treatment Mike was home and starting the long process of recovery. Today Mike is back in the saddle on his own motorcycle and is building up to a return to duty with Freewheelers.

In 2006 Mike and his fellow Freewheelers volunteers made more than 460 deliveries on behalf of the RUH and its associated hospitals in the Bath area. Everyone hopes that providing this help is the only interaction we ever have with these hospitals. However, it is reassuring to know when the tables are turned and we need the hospital's help, that we can expect to receive such excellent treatment. All of the volunteers at Freewheelers would like to thank the first-aiders at the sports centre, the ambulance paramedics and the staff at the RUH for saving the life of our friend and colleague Mike Cummin.

We are always pleased to assist in any way that we can to get a new group up and running - especially if they embrace the Freewheelers philosophy of using advanced riders to deliver the highest possible standard of service. With this in mind we have setup a "How to start up a new group" web page. We are also happy to back up our words with actions and provide whatever practical help and advice we can offer. We have already done this with two new groups that are currently being started up: Severn Freewheelers and Dorset Freewheelers. If you are thinking of starting a group then read the advice page and get in contact with us. We are here to help.

The past few weeks have seen Freewheelers raise a significant amount of money at two different events.

The first event was Weston Beach Race, a motocross race that is held every October on the beach at Weston-super-Mare. This is normally a huge fund raiser for Freewheelers and this year was no different. Despite the downpour on Sunday we managed to raise £1478. See our gallery for pictures taken at the beach race.

The second event was Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival. Bridgwater is the biggest and oldest carnival in the Somerset winter carnival circuit. Freewheelers first ever attendance at the carnival was organised by Alison Mayer, an information Manager at the South West Public Health Observatory in Bristol. Alison heard about Freewheelers through the work that we do for the hospitals in the Bristol area. Alison worked hard to bring together around 20 colleagues and Freewheelers volunteers to collect money from the public at the carnival. In total we raised £653. Freewheelers would like to thank Alison and her colleagues for their support. Without Alison's help we would not have attended the carnival and raised such important funds. See our gallery for pictures of the event.

Deciding on what to do when you hear an emergency vehicle approaching can be a dilemma. Do you stay where you are and potentially block the progress of an emergency vehicle? Or do you move into a position that may put you or other road users at risk?

The Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM) regularly publishes driving tips. The latest tip is highly relevant to the work done by Freewheelers.

IAM Driving Tip 38: Emergency Vehicles offers advice on how to react when you see or hear an emergency vehicle approaching. As an organisation that uses emergency vehicles Freewheelers EVS is supporting the promotion of this important safety message. Please take the time to read the article, which is summarised below:

• Don’t panic and just brake. It’s natural to want to react. But instinctively putting your brakes on immediately in front of an emergency vehicle doesn’t help: it slows the progress of the emergency vehicle and jeopardises other road users.
• Think about where you are on the road. You should deal with the problem in the same way that you deal with any other potentially hazardous driving situation. What is the safest option available to you?
• Don’t cross red traffic lights or speed to get out of the way. The emergency driver has training and legal exemptions that you don’t have. Bus lanes and box junctions can be problems too, but let them resolve the problem of breaking the rules – not you.
• If you are moving it may well be that you can continue at a reasonable pace and the emergency vehicle can follow you out of a pocket of congestion (such as a blocked one way system). In that scenario, attempting to pull over too soon, or slow down, might just cause a needless obstruction and so hamper the progress of the emergency vehicle.
• Indicate your intentions clearly Don’t pull in opposite other obstructions, such as centre bollards. If you are thinking about pulling over across an entrance to a school or factory, you may be unwittingly preventing the emergency vehicle reaching its destination. And do think about where you are asking the emergency driver to overtake you – on the brow of a hill or a blind bend can be placing him or her in a very difficult position.

Neil Mossman is pictured left presenting a cheque for £262 to Freewheelers EVS volunteer rider Alan Blythe. The presentation took place outside the Total Triumph motorcycle dealership in Taunton.

Mr Mossman's family recently arranged a charity motorcycle rideout to commemorate the anniversary of his father's death. The cheque presented to Freewheelers was some of the money raised during the ride.

Also pictured is Mr Mossman's mother presenting an identical cheque to another well deserving Somerset charity.

Freewheelers would like to thank the Mossman family as well as the staff and customers of Total Triumph for their support.

Pictured right are two Freewheelers EVS riders modelling high visibility jackets supplied by ICU-UCMe. Tom Craig, managing director of ICU-UCMe, recently presented Freewheelers with 15 blouson style jackets and 15 lightweight over-jackets to help increase the visibility and safety of our riders. Each jacket bears the charity's logo and the word "BLOOD" printed in large letters on the back. The jackets, which will be worn by our volunteers whenever they are on duty, will play a vital part in keeping our riders safe while they are on the bikes making valuable deliveries to local hospitals.

In addition to providing the jackets, ICU-UCMe will make a donation to Freewheelers for every jacket that is sold through our website. If you wish to purchase one of ICU-UCMe's excellent motorcycle or car high visibility jackets please mention Freewheelers EVS in your order to ensure that we receive the welcome donation to our funds.

According to Department of Transport figures for 2004, more than 3,000 people were killed and 280,000 were injured in traffic accidents. Jackets such as those provided by ICU-UCMe are a very tangible way of reducing those needless deaths and injuries. Freewheelers EVS is proud to be associated with Tom Craig and ICU-UCMe.

John Graves, chairman of Freewheelers EVS, is pictured left presenting a certificate of thanks to BWOC managing director Mark Wayne and his executive assistant Nikki Corrick.

On June 30th Freewheelers' 8 month sponsorship by BWOC came to an end. During that time BWOC supplied Freewheelers with heavily discounted petrol for its entire fleet of motorcycles. The sponsorship from BWOC shielded the charity from two periods which saw petrol prices rise to £1/litre.

Freewheelers EVS would like to thank Mark Wayne and all the staff at BWOC for their support. Without their financial support the charity's ability to carry out its valuable work for local hospitals may have been under threat.

Freewheelers EVS would like to thank the management and staff of Sanders GardenWorld at Brent Knoll for their hospitality and for giving us the opportunity to exhibit in their Village Square events area. Freewheelers exhibited two bikes at the garden centre during half term week. We were delighted to be able to show off the bikes and talk about our work to a number of children as well as their parents and grandparents. In addition we raised £112 thanks to the kind donations from GardenWorld customers.

Pictured right are Freewheelers volunteer riders Ian Pruce, Mike Belch, Alan Blythe, Allan Thomas and Dave Hobbs

On April 29^th and 30^th Freewheelers EVS attended Bike Show South West at the Bath & West Showground. For the charity this is an important event in our fund raising calendar.

Our bucket rattling at the show resulted in a collection of £740. We also exhibited a new motorcycle on loan from Honda UK that we hope to buy and operate with donations received from the show.

Our funds were also boosted by a very welcome donation of £600 by the Christian Motorcyclists' Association from Bristol. Pictured above right is Freewheelers EVS chairman John Graves presenting a thank you plaque to a member of the CMA.

See our Events Galleries for more pictures from this event.

On Tuesday April 25^th a group of eleven riders on Honda Pan European motorcycles will begin the long journey down from John O'Groats to Lands End. The aim of this group is to raise an estimated £6000 for Freewheelers EVS.

Nine of the eleven riders are members of the south west area of Pan Clan, the Pan European owners club. The other two are volunteer riders with Freewheelers EVS. The inspiration for the Long Way Down event came a result of a visit by two Freewheelers EVS volunteers to a Pan-Clan club night, where they gave a talk about the charity's work. As Freewheelers EVS also ride Pan European Motorcycles it was decided that Pan Clan would raise some money for their cause.

At first it looked like it was going to be a small ride with just four bikes raising a modest amount of sponsorship, but as time went on it started to grow. There are now have eleven bikes and a back up van. The ride will begin on Sunday 23^rd April when the riders travel to Loch Lomond and stay at the Youth Hostel. On Monday they will complete their trip up to John O'Groats, before starting the journey back down on Tuesday 25^th. En-route the riders will be visiting a number of Honda motorcycle dealers to collect prizes for the grand draw raffle. On Saturday 29^th at the Bath and West Showground the riders will be joined by a number of other bikes for the Final Leg run down to Lands End, so far over 100 bikes of all types and sizes have registered to do the final leg. If you wish to join the riders for this last leg we would encourage you to register.

Sponsorship has started to grow as well with a large percentage coming from various companies from around the country as well as personal collecting for the trip. There will be a grand draw with lots of very nice prizes which will be drawn at Motorcycle World Show Beaulieu Hampshire 25 June on the Pan-Clan / Freewheelers EVS stand.

From March 20^th to 24^th, Freewheelers EVS was the featured Charity Of The Week on BBC Somerset Sound. Morning Show presenter Jo Phillips (pictured right) interviewed Freewheelers EVS volunteers Ken Fryer, Mike Belch, Allan Roberts, Alan Blythe and John Graves. The interviews each lasted around 10 minutes and gave Freewheelers EVS the chance to publicise the excellent work that it does for the NHS in Somerset.

Freewheelers EVS would like to thank Jo and the staff of BBC Somerset Sound for giving us the chance to showcase our work, attract new volunteers and raise much needed additional funding.

Freewheels EVS attended the Bristol Classic Bike Show at the Bath & West Showground on the weekend of Saturday 11^th February. Despite an inferior stand location compared with previous years we still managed to raise more than £1700, which will go a long way towards paying our running costs this year.

The photo on the left shows an honoured visitor to our stand, Teddy Edward, who donated £100 to Freewheelers EVS after a successful nose and paw job.

Also featured on the Freewheelers EVS stand was a Honda Pan European ST1300 Police bike, which was kindly loaned to us by Honda UK. The bike is one that we hope to be able to buy as a replacement for our spare bike which was destroyed in an unfortunate accident in January.

See our Events Galleries for more pictures from this event.

At approximately 1850hrs on Monday 30^th January 2006, an advanced motorcyclist trained volunteer rider lost control of a fully marked blood bike (Honda ST1100 Pan European) as it was travelling onto the M5 motorway southbound at junction 22. There were no other vehicles directly involved in the incident. The rider sustained chest and hip injuries and was treated on scene by the Westcountry ambulance service, he was then conveyed by ambulance to Weston-super-Mare General Hospital, where the rider was treated overnight. The rider was released from hospital at 12:30 today and is now recovering at home. The motorcycle sustained extensive damage and at this time appears to be beyond economical repair. The rider was on his way to a non-emergency call, and blue lights and sirens were not in use at the time. The police and the Freewheelers are investigating the cause of the incident.

The Freewheelers are a charity based in Weston-super-Mare, which deliver Emergency and non-emergency medical supplies at no cost to the N.H.S., to and from hospitals and other health departments across Somerset and beyond. The loss of the motorcycle could well have an impact on the service provided, and we would like to appeal to the public for their support in hopefully providing a replacement motorcycle. The motorcycle that was written off was a 1999 model, and the insurance value unfortunately means it will probably be a total loss."

• Article from Bristol Evening Post - February 6^th

As part of its corporate responsibility work, Sainsbury's set up the Local Heroes scheme with the aim of recognising and rewarding the individual volunteering and team fundraising efforts of Sainsbury's colleagues. To participate in Local Heroes, colleagues complete and submit a form describing the type of work they do and those who benefit from it. Completion of this form automatically rewards colleagues with £200 for the charity or group they volunteer with in their own time.

Peter Hawkes, a Freewheelers EVS volunteer rider, works two days a week at the Bath store and entered the 2005 scheme.

Selected members of the scheme were further recognised for their efforts at a ceremony hosted by Justin King, Sainsbury's Chief Executive (pictured right with Peter). Peter was invited to that ceremony and was chosen as the winner of the Local Heroes 2005 Volunteer Category. At that ceremony Peter was given a cheque for a further £500 for Freewheelers EVS.

This photo on the left shows of Peter on one of Freewheelers' bikes. It was taken outside Sainsbury's Bath store. It will be used as the cover shot in 'The Journal', Sainsbury's house magazine.

On October 7^th Freewheelers EVS was featured in an article in the Weston & Somerset Mercury newspapers. The background to the article was rising fuel prices, some close to £1/litre, which were severely hitting the charity's finances.

As a direct result of the article Freewheelers EVS were contacted by BWOC Limited, a Weston-super-Mare based fuel company, and were offered a sponsorship deal which will significantly cut our fuel costs over the coming months. Freewheelers EVS would like to thank Mark Wayne, managing director of BWOC Limited, for his company's support. We would also like to thank Jack Hunter from the Weston Mercury newspaper for the positive support that his publication has given to us.

• Scanned copy of the original article. (Source: Weston & Somerset Mercury - 7^th October 2005)

• Scanned copy of the article announcing the BWOC deal. (Source: Weston & Somerset Mercury - November 25^th 2005)

A Vital life-saving motorcycle medical courier service will soon be up and running in Bath. A Chronicle appeal last week saw new volunteers sign up to join Freewheelers. Now a powerful bike can operate full-time in the city to deliver tissue samples, blood, drugs, x-rays and medical equipment overnight. Bath has been covered on a part-time basis by the Bristol branch until now but with the boost of new volunteers a full-time Bath service will zoom into action on Monday night.

Ian Moore, chairman of the Freewheelers, said: "As a result of the article last week I have had seven phone calls and from that there are four people who are definitely signing up to do their Institute of Advanced Motorists course, as well as one person who is already IAM qualified and will go on the rota immediately.

"There was a marvellous response. We had great trouble getting people to come forward before and would still like more volunteers."

Mike Cummin, a commander in the Royal Navy based at the MOD in Foxhill, is a rider.

He will ride with new Freewheeler Peter Hawkes and a Bristol rider on Sunday.

The pair will learn all the pick-up points at the hospitals and along with two other riders will start the service from Monday night.

"I have been riding motorcycles for 30 years for pleasure," said Cmdr Cummin.

"It is something I enjoy doing and it is going to be a useful service."

The arrival of the Freewheelers has been welcomed by the Royal United Hospital.

The free service is not only important because of the speedy delivery of vital medical items; the hospitals also save money where they would previously have had to use a taxi or an ambulance.

"It means response times will be quicker and the dedicated Bath bike will be able to do more work for us," said Daniel Messom, discharge co-ordinator at the RUH.

The powerful bikes used by Freewheelers are the same distinctive bikes as used by the police force.

Freewheelers is still appealing for new volunteers. It is also on the look-out for sponsors to pay the yearly running costs of the bike, which come to £1,500.

(Reproduced from the Bath Chronicle)

A Fleet of powerful motorbikes will soon be weaving its way through the streets of Bath, helping to save lives. The bikes, with distinctive yellow and blue flash stripes, lights and sirens, will be providing an out-ofhours medical courier service for the Royal United Hospital.

The specially adapted bikes, which are run by a charity, will be transporting blood, drugs, X-rays and other medical supplies between hospitals.

Their speedy response times and their ability to cut through heavy traffic will help improve emergency deliveries to the RUH.

Daniel Messom, RUH discharge liaison nurse, said: "Having worked for many months to set this project up, we are excited it is finally under way.

"It will help us to provide an even better service to our patients and, best of all, it comes at no cost to the trust."

The Freewheeler Emergency Volunteer Service is provided outside normal working hours, with volunteer riders on call evenings, weekends and bank holidays.

Freewheelers' chairman Ian Moore said: "Our service is completely free to the hospitals as all our riders give their time free of charge, so our main running costs are the motorcycles, which are owned by the charity, petrol and insurance.

"Having motorcycles with lights and sirens for urgent cases means we can also deliver urgently required items, such as scans and medical notes, through congested traffic much more effectively than any alternatives."

The service will also reduce delivery costs for the RUH as it eliminates the need to send items by taxi.

All riders are trained by the Institute of Advanced Motorcyclists and must be over the age of 25.

The charity is entirely funded by donations and sponsorship and is keen to recruit more volunteers to help with fund-raising or deliveries.