Blood Bikes mark decade of help in three counties

The charity has 210 riders who volunteer to deliver supplies

A volunteer group set up to transport blood and other urgent medical supplies to hospitals is marking a decade of deliveries.

Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Blood Bikes (SSCBB) started life in January 2014.

The 408 volunteers have made 43,580 deliveries during their ten years.

Vice chair Lynne Stone said there was a huge need for the service and the charity was proud what it had achieved.

SSCBB held its launch event in 2014 at RAF Cosford. Its first official shout saw urgent samples taken from Princess Royal Hospital, Telford to the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, about 17 miles away.

It costs £100,000 a year to run the charity, which now has a fleet of 17 liveried motorcycles.

The aim is to help hospitals save money on their transportation costs, so the funds can be put into patient care.

The charity was launched in 2014 with an event at RAF Cosford

"We have lots of examples of riders who want to give something back to the NHS, as something happened to them or a family member," said Ms Stone.

They are all advanced motorcyclists, and all have "the same willingness to help fellow mankind," she added.

Alongside the volunteer riders, there are controllers who take the calls from the hospitals and dispatch the riders, as well as people who spare their time to fundraise.

In addition to urgently needed blood products, SSCBB deliver other items, including donated breast milk, which is used to feed premature babies.

"We get people at events who say you saved my dad's life, or the milk you carried for my baby was amazing," said Ms Stone.