Wednesday 26th February 2014 – 2.50pm – Claire Brown.
The Trust’s very own Emergency Biker has become a patron for a life-saving blood bike charity in Devon.
Birmingham based Paramedic, Mark ‘Flymo’ Hayes, is not only a familiar face to locals in Birmingham but he’s also well known to fellow bikers across the UK after appearing on four series of Channel 5’s Emergency Bikers.
Last month, Mark was invited to visit the volunteer bikers of Devon Freewheelers; a charity providing an out of hours emergency response courier service to the NHS, taking vital blood to where it is needed most in their local community. Mark, who lives in Sutton Coldfield, had a chance to see the charities operations centre before taking a gentle ride along some of east Devon’s challenging lanes with a few of the volunteer bikers.
Devon Freewheelers CEO, Daniel Lavery, said: “We’d been tweeting Mark for a while, and he decided to check us out. He was really impressed by the work we do and the professionalism of the organisation. He was surprised to learn about the size of the service and the fact that we travel hundreds of thousands of miles every year in sometimes difficult road conditions to deliver vital supplies to hospitals, doctors surgeries and patients’ homes.”
Mark said: “I am honoured to be associated with Devon Freewheelers and its volunteers. The charity not only transports blood but they are the only blood bike organisation to transport human tissue too. This, along with the police bike training that every volunteer has to pass, takes this valuable group to another level.” ENDS
Notes to Editor: Photograph courtesy of Devon Freewheelers. For more information about the charity, please visit http://bloodbikes.org/.