Severn Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a blood bike charity based in the Severn Valley in western England. Founded in 2007, it provides a free

motorcycle courier A motorcycle courier, also known as a despatch rider or motorcycle messenger, is a courier using a motorcycle. Motorcycle couriers are common in the major urban centres of Europe, South America (especially Brazil), Asia and North America. ...

service to hospitals in the region, operating a fleet of emergency-equipped motorcycles which are ridden and co-ordinated by volunteers. Severn Freewheelers is a founder-member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) and co-operates with similar organisations in the area including

Freewheelers EVS Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service (EVS) is a blood bike charity based in South West England. Founded in Weston-super-Mare in 1990, it is funded by public donations and staffed by unpaid volunteers. Association with other blood bike ch ...

(Bristol and Somerset), SERV (south England) and Midland Freewheelers (north-west Birmingham).

Operations

Severn Freewheelers works for hospitals in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, Worcestershire and north

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

, with its operations extending into southern

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

and

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

. Major hospitals served include Gloucester Royal, Cheltenham General, Hereford County, Worcester Royal, Redditch Alexandra and Swindon Great Western, with many smaller hospitals also served including Tewkesbury, Moreton-in-Marsh, Cinderford, Stroud, Dursley, Cirencester, Ross-on-Wye, Leominster, Bromyard, Ledbury, Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Malvern, Tenbury Wells, Evesham, Pershore, Chippenham and Savernake. Operating between 7 pm and 7 am on weekdays and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays, the charity provides a service enabling hospitals to avoid the need to use taxis or commercial couriers, saving the NHS an estimated £150,000 each year across the area. By December 2019, the charity had covered over 1,700,000 miles, had responded to more than 46,000 calls, and was receiving over 500 calls each month. Items carried include samples for pathological or micro-biological analysis, blood and blood products for transfusion, patient notes, drugs, scans and medical equipment. Recent developments include the collection of

human breast milk Breast milk (sometimes spelled as breastmilk) or mother's milk is milk produced by mammary glands located in the breast of a human female. Breast milk is the primary source of nutrition for newborns, containing fat, protein, carbohydrates (lactos ...

from donors’ homes and its transport to human milk banks at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...

and

, and regular re-supply of blood products to the Midlands Air Ambulance based at Strensham on the M5 as part of the RePHILL clinical trial. During the coronavirus-19 crisis the charity responded by temporarily extending its service to operate 24/7. In addition, some 80 volunteers were recruited from the general public to make home deliveries of medications from general hospitals in Hereford and Gloucestershire. Nearly 3,000 deliveries had been made as of September 2020.

Fund-raising

In 2011, the charity held its first Prescott Bike Festival at the

Prescott Speed Hill Climb Prescott Speed Hill Climb is a Hillclimbing, hillclimb in Gloucestershire, England. The course used for most events (the "Long Course") is in length, and the hill record is held by Wallace Menzies who took the outright hill record in a Gould GR ...

circuit near Bishop's Cleeve in Gloucestershire, which attracted 5,000 visitors. This has since become an annual event. It also mounts displays at local shows such as the Three Counties Show, the Cotswold Show, the Emergency Services Show, and local music festivals, and attends motorcycle safety events such as BikeSafe. Several motorcycling celebrities including racers

Carl Fogarty Carl George Fogarty, (born 1 July 1965), often known as Foggy, is an English former motorcycle racer and one of the most successful World Superbike racers of all time. He also holds the second highest number of race wins at 59. He is the son ...

and

Jamie Whitham James Michael "Jamie" Whitham (born 6 September 1966), is an English former professional motorcycle road racer. He raced in most major British and international championships, winning the British championship twice. The readers of Motorcycle ...

have offered to help support the charity in raising funds to support its work.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Severn Freewheelers Blood bikes Charities based in Gloucestershire 2007 establishments in England Organizations established in 2007